Naruto: Eleven
by Geor-sama
Summary: A dark hallway...panic, fear, anger...suddenly she's splashing into a large body of water and turning...."I want her to kill me"..."So you're from Akatsuki"....
1. 318

**Naruto**  
_-318-_  
By Geor-sama

* * *

Bordering on life and death was a lot like being half-awake and half-asleep, you were both aware and unaware of what was going on. Part of you wanted to know and another part of you didn't care, it all boiled down to the fact that you had only enough willpower to hover in this twilight zone of existence and nothing else.

**"Fool! Wake up!"** a dark voice hissed, a painful pulse following those words **"wake up before they-"**

Whatever else followed was lost as the voice died, as if it were cut off. Still it had served the purpose it needed and she started stirring, hands throbbing and her mouth feeling as if she had been eating something foul. Eyes opening slowly, she stared at the ceiling blankly, mind moving sluggishly to piece together her fragmented memories.

_A dark hallway...panic, fear, anger...suddenly she's splashing into a large body of water and turning..."I want her to kill me"..."So you're from Akatsuki"..._

Suddenly Nii Yugito, Jōnin and the second Guardian of Kumo, sat up or at least attempted to. She managed to lift her upper body up until she discovered her arms were bound tightly to the rails on the bed. Flopping back, breathing fast and mind racing, she tried to figure out what was going on, the last thing she remembered was her fight against the two Akatsuki agents and then nothing other than the -thankfully brief- sensation of being- pinned to the wall by her own kunai.

Forcing calm, Yugito tried to figure out her current location. She knew, from the bed and the smell of anti-bacterial soap, she was in a hospital. What she wanted to know was where and what had happened to place her there instead of in the clutches of Akatsuki though she cautioned herself that she could still be in their clutches.

After all nobody knew exactly what Akatsuki was doing with Jinchūriki, just that they were collecting them.

At the sound of the door opening, Yugito tensed futile in preparation for a fight. She heard the sound of soft shoes against linoleum, nurse's shoes, and a second later, a pleasant looking woman appeared at the side of her bed. Yugito took in as much detail as she could, then seeing the leaf on the nurse's hat felt some of her anxiety leave her.

While Kumo and Konoha were not on the best of terms they were considered better alternatives for each other than the other three Kage Countries. Even with improved relations between Suna and Konoha, or Kiri and Kumo, Konoha and Kumo preferred dealing with each other. Then Yugito felt her anxiety return as she wondered how exactly she had gotten here.

"Look, all I'm saying is its going to take a couple hours for him to get here," a deep voice said from the door as it clicked open once more "maybe you could just let me-"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do." A more feminine voice said sarcastically "Let a lecher like you have unsupervised access to a helpless female."

"I'm hurt, nay offended, that you think I would take advantage of her." the first voice said indignantly "Does everyone really think I'm that perverted?"

"YES!" Came the rather loud chorus and then the door closed followed the sound of more heels against the floor. The nurse looked up, spotting her visitor and turned back to the machines. Yugito, frustrated and annoyed, lifted her head to see who the mysterious person was that had come in and prayed that it was not someone in a black cloak with red clouds.

Standing at the foot of her bed scanning a chart was a tall, blond and over-endowed woman dressed in an outfit that did nothing to hide her cleavage or figure. It didn't take Yugito long to figure out the woman's identity, partly because she was a Kumo Jōnin, and the woman in question was one of the most well known people in the world. The Godaime Hokage, the infamous medical ninja of the Sannin, Tsunade.

Tsunade made a tisking noise and addressed the nurse. "Who ordered the restraints?"

"Danzō-sama," the nurse answered sourly "can I take them off? I don't see why we need them, it's not like she's Uzumaki."

"Yeah, go ahead," Tsunade replied before looking at the nurse "and what do you meant 'it's not like she's Uzumaki'?"

"Just that, er," the nurse flushed slightly hand fumbling with the straps "well, he's notoriously hard to keep in the hospital is all Hokage-sama. I've been his nurse several times and, no offense, he's a bastard when he escapes."

"None taken," the Hokage said with an indulgent smile, as the nurse finished her task. Then with a nod to let the nurse know to leave, the Hokage looked at Yugito addressing her for the first time. "So you're Yugito. I've heard some stories about you..."

Lacking anything to say, the Kumo Jōnin just stared back.

The Hokage however, seemed undaunted as she glanced at the chart in her hand. "You got some good luck with that oaf stumbling across you, almost as good as Naruto's. You're hands should be recovered soon enough and the rest of your body wasn't too badly damaged."

Looking up the Hokage sighed, giving her an annoyed look. "The silent treatment isn't going to work. Besides, I'm only here as your doctor, the person you'll have to deal with is going to be a lot more persistent."

Yugito felt a chill go through her at that, and mentally she wondered who it would be - the only likely choice would be the infamous Ibiki. He would be the obvious choice for interrogation, so should she start talking now or try to escape? However, for that to be a realistic option she would need access to Matatabi's chakra, but a brief attempt at drawing its power found her disappointed.

"By the way, as a safety precaution we've sealed all you're chakra." The Hokage said, her tone slightly amused "not that you would try to do anything to your benefactors now would you."

"You...sealed her?" Yugito repeated blankly, before her eyes widened. "YOU SEALED HER?!"

"Of course we did," the Hokage said putting the chart down "we'll that's it. Try to behave yourself; he won't be in a very good mood when he arrives after all."

A moment later, the woman walked out of the room, closing the door with a 'thunk'.

Yugito laid there, stunned, unable to process everything that had happened to her. First Akatsuki, then somehow managing to escape death and now she was trapped in a hospital facing interrogation with one of the most infamous ninja known to Kumo. Ibiki was a man that was whispered about among Kumo Jonin and he was rumored to have broken a Raikage Candidate in under a day.

She felt a chill sweep through her and wondered what she was going to do. Still, the fact of the matter was, this was not good. Not good at all.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto had a sunny disposition. It unnerved some people, how could it not considering his past and the fact that he always had a smile. As Sakura once confided to him, it was unnatural to smile so much. In response he had shrugged, finished his ramen and then smiled at her. Lately though, the smile was getting harder and harder to even fake.

He'd been training with Kakashi and Yamato for awhile working on a top-secret technique that would let him get stronger. It would, in theory even let him drag Sasuke back here kicking and screaming. Sakura had better appreciate just how much torture this training was, it left him past exhausted and with thoughts of the type that almost had Naruto convinced that killing Sasuke would be easier.

Still he had a made a promise, he had never broken one before and he would push himself as much as he could to see it completed.

He was almost tempted to stop at a ramen stand, a new one, but he resisted the urge. Mainly because he was loyal to Ichiraku Ramen, and because the Hokage had interrupted his training to summon him back into the village proper. Not that it was much of a problem, with the amount of Kage Bunshin he had doing the actual training he didn't actually need to be present for the simple task of completely cutting leaves in half.

Pressing onward, he grumbled softly, perking up only slightly at maybe convincing Sakura to go out with him again. The prospects though, were not bright and he felt his shoulder's sag. Passing through the gates of the Hospital, Naruto wondered briefly why they needed to see him, but naturally all they had told him was to show up and meet them in the meeting room on the third floor.

Trudging his way through the hospital, he barely noticed the doctors and nurses who refused to move. Climbing two flights of stairs, he finally made the long walk down the hallway and found the small meeting. Letting out a sigh, he straightened up, opened the door and entered ""Aright, what'd you wanna see me about?"

"Rude as ever," Tsunade said, arms crossed, but smirking faintly from her seat at the table.

"Look who's talking," Naruto shot back, glancing at the other Sannin who was busy scribbling in his book. "Oi, you call me here and then yer gonna ignore me? Stupid pervert."

"Charming to," Tsunade said with a sigh. "Naruto, I need you to focus for a minute. I'm the one that made him call you here since we have a bit of a situation."

"A situation?" Naruto asked, blinking. His mind was already racing to what that could mean, but he drew nothing but blanks, unless it involved Sakura but that wasn't likely.

"Well, your illustrious sensei there," Tsunade said gesturing at Jiraiya "encountered a group of Akatsuki recently-"

"WHAT?!" Naruto exclaimed, rounding on the older man who had finally looked up. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," the pervert said with a small grin "anyway; I was on the outskirts of Lightning when I found them. I only stumbled across them by accident; there was a huge output of chakra in the area. I arrived just after they had managed to defeat the Kumo Jinchūriki-"

"Don't say that word," Naruto said absently, disgust in his tone.

"It's the only word we have for the moment, so get used to it." Jiraiya countered with a shrug "anyway, they were a pair I had never seen before. They were going to hand her off to Zetsu, but I threw a wrench into their plan and got her out of there. Had to use some serious Toad Jutsu to do it, but once out we headed straight for Konoha."

"They arrived yesterday," Tsunade said taking over the story once more. "I've healed her for the most part, and I had Jiraiya seal her chakra. Same method as was used on you three years ago, so she can't use draw on her Bijū's power either."

"...and you need me here why?" Naruto asked a bit overwhelmed by so much information. Still, he would do what he could, especially if he could help another person like him. "I'm not that great at interrogae-"

"You suck at interrogation," Jiraiya said casually, but smirked. "You do, however, seem to have this effect on people with hard lives. You make them want to talk and, if they happen to be female, they seem to develop a soft spot for you fast."

"So, what do I gotta do?" Naruto asked with a sigh, knowing better than to try to argue with the man. Jiraiya had been saying that for a long time now and Naruto had yet to change his mind, no matter how false it was.

"Talk to her, if you feel she's safe let us know and we'll unseal her. It's your judgment we'll be trusting Naruto, so be careful." Tsunade said smiling faintly at him "She's in room 308, just be yourself and everything should be fine."

"Right," Naruto muttered turning to walk out of the room "'cause that's always helped me with girls."

Receiving no argument, Naruto stepped out into the hallway before slumping against the door. Great, just great, it wasn't like he ignore the situation but they were placing a bit too much faith in his ability to win people over. Generally, his only method of doing that was bashing their heads in, and the only women that he could even think of that he had won over were Tsunade and Shizune.

Even then, that had included fighting.

Gathering his resolve, he trudged his way through the hallway, and finding her room hesitated. Then shrugging, almost laughing at being cautious, he shoved the door open and barged into the room. As a result he damn near got himself killed, but thankfully he reacted fast enough to catch the hand aimed at his throat. His other hand came up out of instinct and slapped firmly against his assailants neck, just below the ear stunning them, and then twisting he shoved them against the wall, using his body to keep them pinned.

"Don't move!" Naruto barked, when he felt his attacker start to struggle, but at his voice they stopped. Adrenaline fading, he took a moment to calm down and then took in a few facts about his attacker. They were female, a little taller than him, but not by much, and she felt very soft against him. Blushing, he quickly pulled away but never lost track of her.

After several awkward moments he cleared his throat, fighting his grin as he noticed her own faint blush. "So, uh...why'd you try to kill me?"

"The first obligation of a prisoner is to escape."

Naruto blinked, and then scratched the back of his head. "Huh, well I guess so, but...er, they didn't tell me you were a prisoner."

"I'm from a foreign village," the young woman offered slowly "that automatically makes me a prisoner. Also, you're not Ibiki."

"Er...Ibiki?" Naruto repeated, scowling in thought. After a moment, he still couldn't think of who she meant so he shrugged "don't know that guy. Just that they asked me to come down here and talk with you, I guess to see if you're ok too."

"Whatever," the woman said moving back to her bed, albeit with a slight limp and an arm against her ribs. Crawling back into bed she slumped back before glaring at him "Nii Yugito, Jōnin, Registration ID 01894."

"Err, ok, now-"

"Nii Yugito, Jōnin, Registration ID 01894." Yugito supplied firmly yet again.

"...ok, that's helpful and all, but I want to know-"

"Nii Yugito, Jō-"

"UGH!" Naruto shouted in frustration, throwing his hands up. "What is it with you? Wait, no, let me guess, this is a girl thing. You're all freakin' insane!"

"Its name, rank, Registration ID," Yugito said in surprise, staring at him "Haven't you ever been told how to answer during an interrogation?"

"Uhhh, no?" Naruto responded, feeling a little stupid now. But honestly, nobody had ever told him how to answer during an interrogation, not that it mattered, the only future he had if he were captured was to have the fox ripped out of him. "Look, I'm just here to talk to you and find out if you're ok. We don't need to know about Akatsuki or nothin', trust me we've got enough info to last several life times."

"Oh."

"...So, are you?" Naruto said, then seeing her look sighed. "Ok I mean."

"Oh, yeah, fine." Yugito said blinking. "Are you sure youre a ninja?"

"Of course I am!" Naruto snapped thumbing his chest, with a tiny grin. "I'm the next Hokage after all."

"...no, seriously."

"I AM SERIOUS!"

"..."

"..."

"...I must be on some great painkillers," Yugito half whispered, "This is the best hallucination I've had since I ate those mushrooms in Iwa."

"GAH! I'm not a hallucination!" Naruto shouted and huffing crossed his arms.

"Oh," Yugito said, smiling in a slightly teasing manner "So do you have a name?"

"Of course I do," Naruto said grinning "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Naruto?" Yugito repeated, followed by her stomach growling slightly. This caused her to blush faintly once more and chuckle. "Sorry, just that I haven't had ramen for a while, its nature's perfect food you know."

Naruto paused, staring at her in shock. "If I knew you wouldn't try to kill me I think I could kiss you..."

"Yeh, well I will try," Yugito supplied firmly, shooting him a threatening glare.

"Hmm, well I'm hungry too," Naruto said this was accompanied by his own stomach rumbling. "How about I go get us some ramen? Shouldn't take too long, provided Ichiraku isn't flooded..."

"Well before you go could I ask you something?" Yugito asked, sitting up straight in the bed. Naruto paused and noticed her intent gaze, frowned slightly and debated about it before he nodded reluctantly. "How do you guys know so much about Akatsuki and if you do know why aren't you worried about me?"

"...Can you keep a secret?" Naruto asked seriously and at her nod, grinned mischievously. "So can I."

"Cute," Yugito said with a scowl "real cute."

"Thanks," Naruto said his grin widening. He felt a bit proud of the way he had managed that, wasn't too often he got to use that kind of setup. "So what kind of ramen you want?"

"Miso."

"Sweet kami," Naruto said staring at her in surprise. This was a woman after his own heart, or at least a potential friend, after all ramen could help bond anyone into friendship. Seeing her curiosity he smiled and turning walked outside. Pausing he considered things and then decided that the smartest course would be to send a Kage Bunshin for the food while he took a quick shower and changed clothes.

* * *

An artist must suffer; he must toil and sweat blood, always striving for the greatest moment of his craft.

"OH YEAH!" an exuberant voice shouted from below.

Deidara grimaced, refusing to look down at the newest Akatsuki member. Tobi had been a hanger on for years; rumor had it he'd been around since the leader had formed Akatsuki. Still the skills he had displayed today in the fight against the Sanbi had been less than impressive; Deidara had done most of the work. So that made it two Bijū he had captured now.

"Deidara-san! Did you see my Jutsu?! This thing was nothing for me!" Tobi shouted enthusiastically from the top of the massive creature. "I'm pretty Damn good right?! Even as an Akatsuki rookie, it's no wonder I was given such an important task, don't you think?!"

"..." Deidara could only stare down at the man, wondering why he had been partnered with the man. The explosive user even daydreamed of the results of Tobi teaming up with Kisame. Still, it would be better to deflate his ego now before it got to big "Please...you wouldn't have gotten anywhere without the artistic contribution of my explosive clay. My art deserves the praise here. Hmm!"

Tobi however, seemed to just stare past him, or he thought so. It was so hard to tell with that stupid mask he wore. "Stop getting all full of yourself, forgetting the help I provided you! Akatsuki members aren't talkative, they act calm and cool. To make it simple, being cool is being artistic."

Still Tobi didn't react and Deidara felt mounting annoyance.

"Listen up, cause I'm going to let you know what art is...it's the product of a cool mind giving birth to a fiery moment of-"

"Deidara-san, you're pretty talkative yourself for being part of Akatsuki, huh...? Hehehe." Tobi suddenly chimed in, much to Deidara's ire. In fact, his temper snapped and he hurled several bombs down at the man who danced around like a cartoon. "I was just kidding!"

Frustrated at not hitting his target, Deidara sent a larger bomb down.

"UGYAAAAAH!"

Deidara smiled to himself, that was art yeah, nothing but a bang.

* * *

Nijū Shōtai, Tsunade mused, staring at the group before her. Each stood proudly, awaiting her orders, each powerful and among the best this village had to offer and they were all cannon fodder. Tsunade knew it, Jiraiya knew it, and if Naruto and Sakura knew about them then they would know it to.

For Akatsuki these twenty platoons of ninja were little more than a hindrance, after all it took everything Team Seven and Team Gai had to even survive and they were at the top of the field. Still, Tsunade had no other options since ANBU had fallen into decline and they had to watch for Akatsuki entering the country. Not only because of Yugito, but because of Naruto and she dearly hoped not to face more than one team, and even then she would rather not face even that.

"So that's the situation," Tsunade said clearly, nodding as Jiraiya finished the briefing -he was the better public speaker of the two- "you each have you're assignments. Remember, if you encounter an Akatsuki; try to take him alive if it is reasonably practical. If not, I accept dead as well."

With an elegant sweep of her arm, the gathered legions departed, leaving her alone with Jiraiya on top of the wind-swept tower. Sighing she glanced at the white haired pervert who was staring into the distance lost in his own thoughts. After a few more minutes she spoke, drawing him back from whatever place he had wandered. "So have you learned anything about these new agents?"

"Nothing," Jiraiya said shaking his head "I looked through the bingo books, even through bounty office records, they don't match anyone."

"I don't like it when we have unknown players," Tsunade muttered, pressing her lips into a tight line "have you decided when you're going to try and contact Kumo?"

"Not yet," Jiraiya said scratching his head "your messenger birds might find something still. If they're not back in another day or two, I'll go see what I can find. Still, if they took Yugito there's no telling what the state of the village is."

Nodding Tsunade let her gaze drift to the hospital and the woman they had locked away inside. Right about now, Naruto would be talking with her, maybe earning her trust. It had been her idea to involve him, after all Naruto had brought Gaara around and with what little information they had on this Yugito she had felt it the best course of action.

Part of her even wondered if maybe those two might not hit it off, they would definitely relate to each other better than anyone else. Tsunade wasn't about to force the issue, not really, still if it wasn't Sakura then Yugito would be best. She wrinkled her nose in thought, weighing each in her own mind, since to her this was a very important matter.

After all, Naruto was like her younger brother.

"You shouldn't scrunch your face up like that," Jiraiya suddenly said, a hint of teasing in his tone "makes me want to kiss you."

"Lecher," Tsunade muttered, glancing at him a tad fonder than she had in her younger days. Seeing his smile, Tsunade smiled back before sighing and walked past, patting his shoulder "I got paper work to see to. Keep an eye out for anything I need to know about it."

"You can count on me." Jiraiya assured her, his eyes twinkling.

"And no peeking!" Tsunade added as she disappeared into the building, smiling at his loud protest about not understanding his research.

* * *

**AN:**

Firstly, this is just a story to relax with for me. I'm not abandoning any other stories nor connecting it to any other stories. Secondly, there is no character listing for Nii Yugito (or Yugito Nii) what's up with that?. Anyway, enjoy the story and for this stories continuity, it is all canon up to 314-ish and starts altering the timeline at 318 of the manga.

_:Edited January 17, 2013:_ A few tweaks here and there. Mostly replaced the name 'Nibi' and 'Nekomata' with Matatabi.


	2. 319

**Naruto  
**_-319-  
_By Geor-sama

* * *

Exhaustion was not entirely new to him, but it had been a while since he had felt it. His breathing labored; his hands trembled from the sheer amount of chakra he was concentrating on them. Added to this was the way he shivered in the cool air while standing under the three mile wide waterfall Yamato had created for him.

Stretched out to cover the whole length were several thousand clones, each doing the same task and he knew that when they dissipated was going to be in for a world of hurt. Still, he couldn't back down or stop; this was something he had to do both for himself and for so many others.

Sakura, to see the life-time promise he had made through. Jiraiya, to try to erase the doubt the man harbored. Tsunade, to prove he deserved the job of Hokage. Even for Sasuke, who he still considered a brother if estranged.

Closing his eyes, arms trembling he concentrated every erg of his concentration and with a massive surge of chakra unleashed his wind chakra. For a moment, he felt nothing and then with a soft rush of wind the water parted and he opened his eyes, shocked to find that he had managed in combination with his clones to cut the entire flow of water in half.

Now the trick would be to sustain it and he bent his will toward that task. It grew harder with each passing minute, more than one clone shouting that they couldn't do it much longer. He refused though and as the Kage Bunshin disappeared, he increased the amount of charka he was expelling.

Exhaustion piled on top of exhaustion, mental fatigue grew with each destroyed clone, until Uzumaki Naruto alone remained.

"I...can...do..." Naruto breathed, eyes glinting in determination as he surged his chakra to the highest level "THIS!"

A second later, he collapsed in a heap, the waterfall resuming its natural flow, not knowing that he had sliced halfway through the earth that Yamato had created to form the waterfall. All that mattered, as he drifted in his semi-exhausted state was the fact that he had completed this final stage and could now move forward one more step.

"Geez, you ok?" Kakashi asked, landing on the ledge next to him. Naruto looked up at him weakly, vision wobbling, but managed a faint smile. Kakashi sighed reaching out to grab him "I think that's enough for now, let's get some lunch and you can take a nap. We can work on the new jutsu later."

Naruto nodded faintly, trying to recover and with Kakashi's help assumed a sitting position. Breathing heavily he stared sightlessly ahead, mind drifting in his exhaustion. Then with a supreme amount of effort, and the helping hand of Kakashi, he climbed to his feet before descending back to the ground where an equally exhausted Yamato sat.

"Thanks," Naruto mumbled, retrieving his shirt and jacket stumbling slightly. Exhaustion was a bitch that was for sure, shaking it off he thought about his sweet, delicious ramen. That alone gave him enough energy to face the coming horrors of continued training, and of making the trip back into Konoha.

He was absorbed in his fantasy of the perfect bowl of ramen, how he would savor each delectable morsel and use the delicious broth to quench his thirst, when he came to a sudden stop. Thinking about ramen, even in his state, made him remember Yugito a fellow ramen lover who had been forced to endure two days without the godly food. If he was about to eat then he should ensure she did to and he grinned punching the palm of his other hand "I have to do it!"

"Huh? Naruto, what are you talking about?" Kakashi asked, looking at him in mildly surprise.

"There's something really important I have to do," Naruto said shooting him a bright, though tired; smile "I'll see you after lunch to continue training!"

"Wha, Naruto!" Kakashi called, but the blond was already gone.

* * *

"Assemble."

A single word, a command said to an empty chamber, aided by a hand seal and a teensy bit of chakra. Yet it could summon eight of the most dangerous and powerful of ninja in the world, or at least the six of them currently out on missions.

Two were present, disgruntled, and glaring at him from their designated positions. With a soft rippling of air, a influx of chakra that raised the air on his neck, six distorted images appeared in the hall. Lowering his hands, Pein stared at them before addressing Deidara and Tobi. "I take it you've captured the Sanbi?"

_"Of course!"_ came the enthusiastic response from Tobi _"I told you I was really ready for Akatsuki! It was no trouble with my awesome skills!" _

_"...Tobi." _Deidara hissed a warning in his tone even through the distorted of the astral justu.

"When do you expect to arrive?" Pein asked, ignoring the minor argument and more worried about his schedule.

_"Should only take another day, yeah." _Deidara answered before looking at the two other present and then back at him _"Are we sealing the Nibi, yeah?" _

"No," Pein said, shooting a glare at the two newest members "it was taken from Kakuzu and Hidan."

_"Do we know where it's at?"_ came the rather somber question from none other than the group's most enigmatic figure Itachi.

"Yes, it was rescued by Jiraiya of the Sannin. Currently it's within Konoha, along with the Kybi." Pein paused, watching the subtle narrowing of the eyes as best he could through the distorted image. "I have Zetsu scouting the situation."

"We captured her once," Kakuzu said sourly "we can do it again. Along with the Kybi-"

_"Kakuzu, Hidan, if you go to Konoha a word of advice,"_ Deidara said, his voice surprisingly serious _"the Jinchriki that lives there, take precautions, yeah." _

"Hey, hey, hey, as if I'm like you!" Hidan piped up, indignant "I'm not about to-"

"-go there. Either of you." Pein said acidly, fixing them with a glare "the last thing we need is for you to go into Konoha without thinking."

"We handled Kumo, we can handle Konoha." Kakuzumanaged before getting what she meant said with a snort of disgust "if you had let us go immediately after that fool ambushed us, we'd be sealing three demons instead of none."

"It'd be the perfect chance to show those godless bastards the glory of Jashin." Hidan added, fingers tightening around his three bladed scythe.

"Konoha is not godless, they place their previous generations and act with 'the Will of Fire'." Pein said, personally disgusted at the stupidity before him but keeping it in check "However, if you go there you both face death. Konoha is not like any other Village we've dealt with; they are **very** prepared for us, they have teams that can prove the death of you and they won't give up their Jinchriki without a full scale war."

"Pfft, if they're that attached to their weapon they should use him." Hidan muttered a scowl on his face.

_"To them he's not a weapon,"_ Kisame said his tone amused _"it's amusing, but to them he's a comrade and dear friend." _

"Exactly." Pein said fixing his gaze on the two present "You'll go take over the transfer of the Sanbi, while Deidra and Tobi check with Zetsu before they move to recapture the Nibi."

_"What about the Kyūbi__, yeah?" _

"He waits." Pein said, his gaze drifting to Itachi trying to figure out what was going through his head then glanced at Kisame "Have you gotten any closer to the Yonbi?"

_"He's good at hiding his tracks," _Kisame said _"it's why he's the oldest one after all. But I'll find him don't worry." _

Nodding he looked at the various others and closed his eyes, obviously dismissing the gathered group. As they shimmered from view, and two left in a glacial silence, he felt a lot of the tension leave him. So many egos not to bruise, so much work to keep the act up, he shook his head and turning met his angel Konan's gaze.

Seeing her look, he offered a fleeting smile, and then walked past with her falling into step beside him.

* * *

Yugito had been a bit startled by Naruto's sudden appearance, after they had eaten ramen together two days ago, he had disappeared. Nobody other than a nurse had stopped by and they were not very talkative, especially when she asked about Naruto. The look that had crossed a few of those nurses' faces had reminded her of the looks she sometimes received in Kumo.

So, when he turned up she had been surprised and bit relieved to see him. It wasn't so much that she liked him, he was ok, but it was that he was the first person to A, share her love of ramen and B, talk to her about things other than being a ninja. He had, upon arrival tossed a pile of clothes at the foot of the bed and grinned in a fashion that hinted at some sort of mischievous plan.

Looking at the clothes, then up at him, she raised an eyebrow "What are those for?"

"We're going to eat!" Naruto proclaimed proudly, eyes closing reminding her vaguely of a kitsune from a story "so, so, hurry up. I'll be out in the hallway waiting!"

Before Yugito could respond, he was out the door and she was left sitting there. Shaking her head, not about to look a gift horse in the mouth -this could be a prime chance to escape- she tossed aside her blanket and stood. Her hands remained heavily bandaged, but she had no problem sorting through the assortment of clothes.

She almost, but not quiet, winced when she discovered the neon orange tank-top. The pants were, of all things, lime green and would prove just long enough to touch her knees. Now, Yugito was by no means a fashion snob, but this would not stand. Not that she saw many options considering the situation and the fact that he most likely stole them. Debate raged inside her until she realized the perfect solution and gathering the clothes walked to the door.

Naruto of course, was outside waiting on her, grinning as the door opened. Yugito then promptly threw the clothes in his face. "If you want me to go out with you, then get me some clothes that _**don't make me look like a clown!**_"

Naruto blinked, staring at her, and then scratched the back of his head "Well...they were the only things I could find."

"Fine. Go find something else, preferably in dark blue or black!" Yugito snapped, giving him her most frightening stare. Naruto seemed well-trained as instead of staring at her, he scrambled to collect the clothes and hurry off in search of more. Sniffing in annoyance and satisfaction the Kumo kunoichi retreated into her room and waited, wondering what her chances really were of escaping.

If he was as big an idiot as he appeared, Yugito figured that once she got away from him then she would stand a good chance. Nobody would look at her twice until it was too late, but if she didn't have her chakra she'd be a sitting duck. All it took was for her to remember the black cloaks and red clouds of Akatsuki for her to resign herself to waiting things out.

The door opened a minute later and she whirled, only to find a pile of clothes hitting her face this time. Sputtering she shook her head and glared at a grinning Naruto. "Hurry up, if we don't get going then it'll be too late."

Grumbling Yugito snatched up the clothes and tossed them on the bed. Looking over his selection this time she wondered at his taste, this time had proven a jackpot. The shirt was black, with short sleeves trimmed in purple along with the collar, and would show off her stomach. The pants were black as well, but in a style similar to the traditional hakama and would hang low on her hips.

Yugito grinned as she changed, pleased to find the shirt a bit tight. The overall effect on her athletic body was stunning, Yugito might not be endowed like the Hokage or leggy like others, but she knew how to work what she had. Plus, unlike others, Yugito liked showing off what she had, not that it did much for her social life.

Then again, she mused silently, just being a Jinchriki ensured that. It was one thing to work together as a team but entirely another to hang out as friends and date, she had quickly learned that and it had proven true ever since. Shaking her head, the blond lamented not telling him to get her a hair band. Resigning herself to leave her hair loose for the moment she went to the door and was rewarded with a Naruto that passed out upon sight of her.

When he came to only a few minutes later, he quickly averted his gaze, but his blush seemed permanent. Yugito could only grin like a cat and slink her way alongside him as they exited the hospital. After a few minutes of enjoying both his embarrassment and the attention she was receiving, she focused a trained eye on her companion.

He wasn't talking, nor looking at her, but that wasn't what she noticed. It was the obvious signs of fatigue, which meant he had been pushing himself hard lately. He seemed to notice her attention cause he cast her a quick glance and grinned brightly "So, so, after lunch you wanna go on a tour?"

"Huh?"

"Of Konoha," Naruto said happily "I mean it's gotta be boring in that hospital room right? I'd have visited more but I've been doing some serious training, which is why I'm here. They said I needed to take a break and eat, apparently going two days straight without food and an hour's worth of sleep is bad or something."

Yugito nodded, but mentally she tried to grasp such a concept. Two days without food and an hour's worth of sleep and he was still up and moving? What kind of stamina did Naruto have, better yet, why wasn't he in the hospital? Clearly, Yugito decided, there was more to Uzumaki Naruto than met the eye.

"So, where'd you find my clothes?" Yugito asked after a moment, turning her attention the village around her. It was not at all like Kumo, everyone was friendly and in no particular hurry, though she did notice the occasional sneer directed her way.

"Oh? Well, see, promise not to get mad?" Naruto said, glancing at her briefly before looking away once more.

"Sure, I like'em," Yugito agreed, flexing her fingers and hiding a wince "So, lost and found? Dirty laundry?"

"Huh?" Naruto managed before getting what she meant and chuckled weakly "they were in the closet one room over."

"Thief," Yugito said, grinning before her stomach rumbled "So where are we eating?"

"Best place in Konoha," Naruto said mysteriously as they turned down a street and started passing various food stands "if we're lucky, Kakashi-sensei and Yamato will still be there and they'll pay. If not, well I got a tab, unless they want money...then...er...we'll have to go someplace for instant ramen."

"So you eat there a lot huh?"

"It's the _only_ place to eat."

After that they lapsed into silence for several minutes, then finally Naruto led her to his shop. The delicious aroma, the way her mouth watered, she paused just outside the entrance. Ramen, delicious, wonderful ramen and from the smell this was the place he had gotten her previous serving. This place had ruined her for any other kind of ramen.

Hurrying in after him, she found Naruto scanning the small stand before his face lit up.

"Is that Kakashi?"

"No," Naruto said, moving toward the hunched over male eating his meal alone at the bar "even better. Iruka-sensei!"

The man gave a start and turned, ramen noodles dangling from his mouth. He slurped them up and eyed Naruto warily before his attention flickered briefly to Yugito. In that brief flicker of attention Naruto had managed to sit down next to him and Yugito sat beside Naruto, wondering what the boy had in mind.

"It's good to see you," Iruka said cautiously "how are you doing?"

"Awesome!" Naruto said brightly "I've been on a few really high ranked missions ya know? Doing some heavy duty training right now..."

"Oh, you've brought someone with you this time." A new voice said and all three turned their attention toward the pretty waitress behind the counter.

"Yup, this is Yugito." Naruto said addressing the woman happily before clapping the man with the scar over his nose on the back "Iruka-sensei agreed to buy us lunch!"

Yugito grinned, listening to the man stammer an argument until the waitress smiled at him sweetly and he caved. Apparently Naruto was a lot more cunning than he appeared, which made Yugito glance at him once more. Then, to further her confusion and interest, Naurto's meal arrived despite his lack of even ordering.

"That's...a big bowl," Yugito commented, eying it with a great deal of envy.

"It's the Hokage special," the waitress offered pleasantly "he always has the same thing. Sometimes I think Naruto would give up his dream to be Hokage, if someone were to give him his own noodle shop."

"Mffph," Naruto protested with a mouth full of noodles, which made Yugito chuckle and prompted her to order her own Hokage special.

Surprisingly it arrived almost as quickly as Naruto's and with a happy Ikamatsu, she dug in. She paused, eyes watering with delighted tears, her face uplifting itself into a joyful expression and then with gusto truly began eating. It was almost comical when both she and Naruto held their bowls out at the same time in supplication of more.

Twenty minutes later, fifty or so Hokage-sized bowels apiece, Yugito and Naruto bid the sobbing Chūnin a cheerful goodbye.


	3. 320

**Naruto  
**_-320-  
_By Geor-sama

* * *

Tsunade had grown to hate the lounge that adjoined her office, not because of the room itself, but because the only time she went in there, it was to deal with the advisors. They were the former team mates of her sensei, so she tried to respect their opinion and listen to them. Sadly, she couldn't because they had become more or less mouthpieces for the village council.

Today there was no denying that they had lost any semi-balance of respectability, they had sought a meeting so that they -read the council- could slander Naruto and the Kumo Jōnin Yugito. Apparently they -the council! - did not approve of those two spending time together especially since she also happened to be a Jinchūriki. Even more worrying in their esteemed opinion was the fact that he had given her a guided tour of Konoha without worry and concern about the consequences.

For this, they wanted his status as a ninja revoked and to keep the boy securely within the village -preferably an ANBU cell-. As for Yugito, they simply wanted to make her disappear. The apparently agreed upon method for this disappearance would be to hand her over to Root and Danzou who would lock her away forever.

They argued, with their unique logic, that Kumo would be weaker without her and that Akatsuki would have less incentive to visit them. Danzo of course seemed utterly uninterested in discussing what would happen to her after Yugito was handed over. Nor did the advisors seem duly interested in her eventual fate; indeed them seemed more interested in awaiting her agreement.

Tsunade had tried to keep the village running smoothly, she had correct things but left others unaddressed, but this was perhaps the largest problem she faced. These 'advising sessions' had started innocent and slowly, they had built to this point. A point where if she agreed, if she compromised, then she might as well just get on her knees and open wide -like a few whispered jokes hinted that she did to maintain the peace with any Kage that visited-.

So she sat on the plush couch, staring at the two wrinkly and expectant faces, aware of the bandaged Cyclops hovering in the corner. How could she respond to this order, for there was no other term for how they had approached this conversation. Finally, without preamble, Tsunade smiled addressing their suggestions with all the concern of swatting a gnat.

"No."

"No?"

"No." Tsunade confirmed with a tiny nod "Naruto can fraternize with whoever he wishes, he can give her a tour all he wants. She stays where she's at and she goes back to Kumo as soon as we can arrange it."

"Tsunade, this isn't like with the team-" Haruo started until Tsunade cut her off.

"What part of 'no' don't you understand?" Tsunade asked blandly and then seeing they're surprise sighed "Everyone seems to have forgotten but this is a military dictatorship. _I_ am the **supreme** leader, the _**strongest**_ ninja in this village."

Tsund-"

"I want you to listen to the words I am saying," Tsunade barked, interrupting them coldly "I'm not playing nice anymore. I don't have time for it and Konoha doesn't have time for it."

"Tsunade, this isn't-"

"You refer to me as Hokage-sama," Tsunade said, standing with all the grace of an empress before striding across the room as she continued "listen to me very clearly, I have a group of insane S-rank criminals running around and they won't stop just because we lock up two brats. So dealing with that group takes precedence over power-plays and the politican's you've whored yourselves to."

"We are the voice of the council! You must list-"

"What I must do," Tsunade said stopping halfway across the room, but not turning to address any of them "is my job. My job says that the council has no authority in decisions concerning the safety of this village. Despite what you think, your authority is limited to civilian matters."

"Hmph, arrogant as the rest of her family," came Danzo's dry, wasp like voice.

"One more word," Tsunade said, turning to fix him with a glare that would have made lesser men faint "and I'll have your fuckin head for treason old man."

Then turning she continued on her way.

* * *

Yugito would never understand Konoha, but then nobody really understood Konoha. Not even the ninja that lived there, well maybe the Hokage understood it but they were pretty much the only ones. They were very lax on security, after her little trip with Naruto yesterday she'd been roaming around the village without supervision.

Hence, her current attempt to familiarize the streets and buildings. She'd been out of her room for most of the day and nobody had even bothered hunting her down. Mainly she was trying to find that ramen place Naruto had taken her, but that proved impossible so she had to settle for locating other business.

Odd thing was, all day yesterday she'd received glares or had people hurry away upon sight of her. Today nobody gave her a second glance, though a few guys had given her appreciative looks. It was a complete one-eighty from her previous experience and combined with the fact that they didn't know her status as a Jinchūriki it was nice.

In Kumo she'd have never been treated so casually, or so kindly. A fruit stand vendor, an old woman had given her a free pear 'just because' and one guy had even asked her out. Both were new experiences, she was used to being treated impersonally or ignored. Still, without money, one grew bored quickly and so she hit up the local library.

The place was large, nicely furnished and filled with rows of bookcases. Tables dotted the floor, with only a few people scattered about and Yugito felt a nice sense of calm. She roamed briefly, then selecting a Konoha History book settled into a table. It did not, however, take long for her to get bored and snap the book shut.

Getting up, with a stretch, she returned to the books and found the fiction section. Much to her surprise, she found the complete Icha Icha series, amused but uninterested, she moved on. An hour later, she finally found something worth reading and returned to her table, only to discover it now filled with young kids.

A quick glanced confirmed that the entire place had steadily filled while she had been on her hunt. It didn't take a genius either to realize that they were all ninja academy students, mainly because there were two ninja that screamed 'instructors'. After all, only ninja academy instructors would have that bored look.

Looking at the book in hand, Yugito grimaced. There was no way she could check it out, she'd have to put it back and come back tomorrow to read it. Turning to do just that Yugito found an older woman smiling kindly behind her.

"Would you like to check that one out?"

"Well, uh, I would but..." Yugito stammered a little put off by the helpful woman.

"Its ok, I know how it is," the woman said, taking Yugito's arm, leading her toward the counter "new in town, don't know anyone. Probably staying in some motel, books are definitely your friend but you just make sure to meet a nice young man. Young woman like you, can't go around with her nose in a book for too long."

"Ah, well, I've already got a friend..." Yugito offered, mind whirling from the unusual situation. They reached the counter in a few moments and the woman plucked the book out of her hand and began stamping it.

"Oh? Who would that be dear?"

"Uh, Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto." Yugito said, and then watched as the woman fumbled with her stamp and looked up at her in surprise. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, not really I suppose," the woman said, her friendly attitude replaced by the typical librarian role "Where are you staying?"

"Room 306 in Konoha Hospital," Yugito offered taking the book as it was offered curtly, confused by the dour look on the womans face.

"Due back in a week."

"Right." Yugito said, unnerved by the change in attitude. Leaving the library quickly, the book 'Clay' in hand, she wondered about such a reaction. She had mentioned Naruto and the woman's attitude had changed completely. The nurse she'd asked, now that she thought about it, seemed the same way. Frowning she slowed to a stop, her mind flashing to the difference in looks she had received today.

Naruto.

Everything revolved around Naruto and the way this village viewed him. Why did people in this village seem to loath his existence, he seemed nice enough. Yugito could see no reason for Naruto to be anything other than well liked.

No answers came, which annoyed her and what was worse she couldn't remember him even hinting at anything. Yugito was a very observant person after all, and she was only now realizing just how big an enigma Naruto was. He never talked about himself; Hokage this, ramen that, what his friends were doing, hinted at training, but never talked about his personal life.

Apparently, there was something in his past, something dark, that he was keeping secret from her and more impressive was the fact that he was doing a damn good job of it.

* * *

Two hundred Kage Bunshin, put to a single task for one day, equaled forty-eight hundred hours of solo training. Averaged out, that equaled the better part of a year. Impressive, but even more so was the fact that Naruto had been at this training roughly two days, which multiplied the earlier numbers by two.

Uzumaki Naruto could feel every _single_ one of those hours,**_ every single second_**, as he struggled with a technique that his sensei Kakashi had told him might truly be impossible. By taking the Rasengan and then trying to add his element chakra to it, he was attempting to climb higher than even the Yondaime and as Kakashi had confided in him, Naruto could be the only person to do so.

The only problem, as far as Naruto could see, was that essentially they asked him to look left and right at the same time. Not a feat normally feasible and it was proving impossible already. Yamato had said it took an incredible amount of skill to combine element and form together, or a type of sense, but it was the fact that neither Kakashi nor the Yondaime had been able to do that kept hammering into Naruto's head.

"Damn!" Naruto hissed, bringing his attention back to the task, namely stabilizing the chakra of the Rasengan while a clone attempted to insert the needed 'wind' chakra. His arm was trembling, it felt like the muscles were beginning to rip and tear, it took every ounce of concentration he had, trying to ignore as the increased sensation as other groups exploded from the exertion.

"A little...more," the current clone hissed, sweating heavily.

"C-come on," Naruto mumbled, sweating heavier and feeling as if his arm was about to rip apart. Then with a loud 'thoom' he lost control, destroying several nearby clones and collapsing to his knees. Fingers digging into the ground he felt his breath come in sharp, painful stabs, his mind trying to handle the strain of so many Kage Bunshin suddenly disappearing.

"Damn it!" One of a nearby pair of Kage Bunshin shouted at the other "Concentrate, try to rub the two chakra together!" Looking up, Naruto saw the whisker marks darken and the red chakra beginning to bubble and form one, two and finally three tails.

"Yamatao!" Naruto cried hoarsely, watching as the fourth tail started to form, at least until several of the surrounding suppression statues suddenly exploded into action grasping the red chakra while slamming the clone into the ground. There was a loud pop and the clone disappeared, causing the real Naruto to wretch dryly.

"Th...this is impossible! I mean...the amount of concentration needed to just make Rasengan is already extremely high." Naruto muttered after getting his heaves under control and looked around at the Kage Bunshin "but to add 'elemental recomposition' to that is..."

No. Naruto thought, eyes hardening as he struggled his way upright. He would not give up, he'd never give up, he had too much to prove and too much ahead of him waiting. He had already disappointed one sensei, he wasn't about to disappoint another.

However, there was no denying that this task seemed utterly impossible, even for him and he had to give it serious consideration.

"Look left and right at the same time," Naruto muttered, his mind sluggishly trying to solve the problem before him and ignoring the wounded feelings as he instead thought of the fact that Kakashi had known the Rasengan and never thought to teach it to him. Didn't Kakashi trust him, or was it that he couldn't see why Naruto needed to know it?

It took a lot of effort but he managed to focus on the task once more, relegating those previous thoughts for later. Right now, he had to figure out how to look left and right at the same time...same time...left and right...look...

Then suddenly he had it.

"TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN!"

It wasn't impossible, it was just insanely improbably. There was a huge difference and as Naruto smiled, taking two Kage Bunshin as the others scattered to join the pre-existing ones, he remembered that at one point Jiraiya had said that for Naruto 'the realm of the improbably was his playground'.

* * *

Jiraiya of the Sannin, he was an expert at gathering information and as well as a highly skilled ninjutsu user. His secret weapon, besides the insanity he was noted for, was the use of Toad jutsu. He was also something of a ladies man, which sadly had been a trait that neither of his students ever picked up.

Most of that had nothing to do with is current mission.

There was still some time for the Konoha messenger birds to contact Kumo, so instead he had headed out for a little fun while trying to gather more information on the two newest Akatsuki agents. His only lead were the headbands they had wore, yet the first one seemed nonsensical as it didn't belong to a hidden village that he knew of. Nor had the symbol that 'Hidan' bore been recognizable, no religion or country had such a symbol which meant he would do further investigating later, after he finished his check out of Taki where 'Kakuzu' had apparently been from.

Gaining entry into Taki and their cooperation was simple, all he'd to do was give his name and sign a copy of Icha Icha for the head Jōnin. Sitting across from the man who looked just old enough for his voice to have changed recently, Jiraiya felt a little guilty as he handed the book back to him. The boy beamed happily at that and then setting it aside looked at Jiraiya eagerly "So what can we do for you?"

"Well, I recently encountered a Taki ninja...a missing one. But I checked the bingo books and he's not listed, I wouldnt normally come all this way-"

"But its kind of a personal matter." the boy said with a knowing nod. "I figured it would be something like that to bring you all the way up here to our waterfall. The last missing-nin we had was about ten years ago and he was hunted down shortly after that, so..."

"Well, does the name 'Kakuzu' mean anything to you?" Jiraiya asked, then at the incredulous look on the boys face, wondered what there was to that name.

"Y-you mean Kakuzu of the Five Hearts?" the Jōnin managed after a moment looking uneasy "He's over, well he's older than _you_. Sweet kami, no wonder you didn't find him in any Bingo Books, we dropped the listing for him about thirty years ago when he disappeared completely."

"So he is from this village," Jiraiya said, eyes widening "what can you tell me about him?"

"Not much, he was a very greedy man. Powerful though, he was able to fight against Konoha's Shodai and escape. We all know how difficult that was reputed to be."

"What about the 'of the Five hearts' bit?"

"He, well, he has five heart," the Jōnin said with a shrug "far as we know its not a bloodline. He has five hearts, taken from those he's defeated in battle. They allow him to use the element chakra of his enemies that much we know. Uhm, he was also noted for a jutsu that could turn his body to metal."

"Great, just great," Jiraiya muttered slumping slightly in his chair before sighing "well thanks. Now I just gotta find out about his partner Hidan."

"Hidan?" The Jōnin asked, raising an eyebrow "funny that was the name of the man Kakuzu abandoned the village to try and collect a bounty for. From some weird ass country, they all worshipped some 'Jashin' if I remember the records from that time period."

"What happened to the country?" Jiraiya suddenly asked sitting forward, worried that he was now dealing with two ninja very close to immortality.

"Don't know, the name and locations were never detailed. Its only mentioned vaguely during the missing-nin report for Kakuzu; I'd imagine it doesn't exist anymore. It's been at least sixty years after all, a lot of countries have disappeared during the wars between villages."

"Yeah," Jiraiya agreed heavily, a knot forming in his stomach.


	4. 321

**Naruto**  
_-321-_  
By Geor-sama

* * *

Yugito enjoyed a good book, really, she did and 'Clay' had been a great one (barring the similarities to her personal experience) but after a week of reading the same thing, she was bored. Not that she had other options, after her little solo-trip through Konoha two ANBU had turned up outside her hospital room door and refused to let her leave. Talk about annoying, and the worst thing was that if things were normal she could have taken them easily, but without Matatabi to back her up she was at a distinct disadvantage.

Yawning as she flipped the page, rereading the part where the demon-infused heroine Kurea fought a pitched battle against a psychotic giant Naga before finally slicing the half-woman half-snake her to piece. Losing interest, Yugito allowed her mind to drift to Naruto, before guilt set in and she instead turned her thoughts toward Kumo. Nobody had told her anything about the status of her village, though considering the fact that those two Akatsuki agents had slaughtered her team and who knows how many other ninja, the village would be facing some serious recovery.

It was entirely possible that before they even got to her, they had faced the Raikage and though she could not imagine it, the possibility did exist that they overcame him. Was that had Kumo had not sent out search parties for her?

Her uncle, the Raikage was not a weak man nor was he passive when someone attacked his ninja, especially if they were unprovoked. If he had not found her already, or responded to any messages that Konoha had no doubt sent, then she could not picture any other outcome. Yugito wanted to cry, but held back partly because she did not know for sure what happened to him and partly because despite being family they had never been that close.

Dismissing her concerns toward her village and her family, Yugito put her book aside and stretched, trying to focus on something more cheerful. Naruto, again, popped into her thoughts and she had to grin wondering what the odds were that she could find an excuse to meet with Naruto again. He stood in stark contrast to other ninja, so much so that she had a hard time picturing him fighting let alone one of the amoral killing machines known as a ninja. He smiled all the time, loved to joke and dash around without a care in the world, so much so that it left Yugito confused.

The only sign that Naruto was anything other than a hyperactive, orange obsessed teenager was the sheer cunning and sadistic streak inherent in all ninja that she had briefly observed.

Further thought on the enigma that was Naruto would have to wait however, as the door to her room opened and an old man, with part of his face bandaged entered accompanied by an ANBU. Yugito studied him silently, instincts screaming at her that something was very wrong with this situation. He nodded curtly to the ANBU who left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Yugito alone with the strange old man.

"So you're one of the Kumo Jinchūriki," the old man said blandly, both hands resting atop of the cane he carried "not much are you?"

"I'm a Jōnin and a Guardian of Kumo." Yugito countered, glaring at him. "Now who the hell are you and why the hell are you in my room?"

"My name isn't important." The man said, frowning "What is important is that you now belong to me. As of this moment you no longer exist and you were never-"

"That's bullshit!" Yugito shouted, springing to her feet and adopting a fighting posture. "I'm Nii Yugito, Jōnin of Kumo-"

"You're a weapon, which is now in my possession. You have no name, no rank, and no existence." The man countered calmly in the face of her fury "we'll make far better use of you than we have Tsunade's pet."

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Yugito shouted, suddenly wondering if this old man was not completely off his rocker.

Abruptly before further conversation and consideration of the man's sanity could happen, an ANBU came crashing through the closed door. The body continued through the room before it exited through a window and Yugito could only stare after it with wide eyes. Turning back, she found the old man who had suddenly gone ghostly pale, a clear sign that he at least knew the cause and a second later so did Yugito.

An irate Hokage entered through the shattered door, followed a minute later by a white haired man dressed in standard Jōnin gear save for the mask cover the lower half of his face and the forehead protector angled over his left eye. He matched the description Kumo had for Kakashi, and since this was Konoha.

"So," the Hokage said, coming to a stop in the middle of the room. Her brown eyes narrowed and focused on the old man with such intensity that Yugito was thankful the woman was not looking at her. "You came to see her. After I told her that she was off limits, after I made it clear that she was none of your business...you came to see her."

"He said I didn't exist anymore." Yugito added, hopeful that the old man would soon turn into a bloody smear.

"Well luckily, I spoke with Naruto-kun a few minutes ago," the Hokage said, though her gaze never wavered from the man "or at least a Kage Bunshin. Know what he had to say Danzō-chan?"

"Who cares what that-"

"He told me," the Hokage said sharply, cutting him off "that he believed Yugito should be unsealed. Thankfully, his sensei Kakashi happened to be hanging around the office looking for a mission."

"Bah," Danzō said and for a moment, he almost appeared to be willing to spit on the Hokage, but wisely seemed to think better of it.

"Luckily Jiraiya taught Kakashi-kun here how to undo the seal before he left." the Hokage said overly sweet "So if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to talk with you. In private. Before I put what's left of you beneath the ANBU cells."

"She's got a temper," Kakashi said in an aside as he languidly moved to Yugito, his visible eye curving up happily. "Now this is my first time unsealing this kind of thing."

"That's ok." Yugito said reaching up to move her hospital gown so the man could reach her seal "gotta lose that cherry sometime."

...and then her world exploded in pain as chakra infused fingers touched her seal.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto lay in a very deep crater, staring at the bright cloudless sky.

His arm felt tender, as if all the strength had left it, but that was a lie. The hand though, he was not too sure about that, the destructive charka he had wielded might have ruined the nerves there. He flexed his fingers, wincing in pain but breathed easier at discovering it still usable.

Letting out a heavy breath his mind turned back to the sky.

Three hours ago, he had sparred a Kage Bunshin of Kakashi and he had utterly obliterated it with his new jutsu. Three hours ago, Kakashi told him 'With this, you've surpassed me. I'm proud of you.' Three hours ago, a sensei had finally told Naruto the words he had thirsted after for years: That they were proud of him. The closest he had ever come until that moment had been Iruka's words the night of the Mizuki fight, and while it did not take the sting from Jiraiya's open doubt for the last two years, or ease the pain of being second-string before that, Naruto was genuinely happy.

He had made Kakashi proud and that was important to Naruto.

Yamato had said nothing, but Naruto had not expected the man to say anything or to acknowledge his accomplishment, there had simply never been a connection between them like there had been with Kakashi or Jiraiya. Still, Naruto was thankful that Yamato helped with his training and kept the Kyūbi under control, if the man had not done that things would have turned out badly. To be fair, the semi-distracted wave Yamato offered after Kakashi left to report that the training was complete was at least an acknowledgement of a fellow comrade.

Taking a deep breath, the blond closed his eyes, allowing his mind to roam ever so briefly before realizing that he needed a name for his new move. Sadly, all he could think up for now was 'Rasen Shuriken' - 'Rasen' for its origins and then Shuriken for the odd shape that it took. Not original or creative but for the moment it worked. Opening his eyes, Naruto decided it was time to get up; to go where and to do what he did not know though perhaps finally being able to sleep in his own bed would be nice and he could replace his tattered jacket.

Naruto would figure out what else to do after eight or twelve hours of solid sleep.

With an instinctive groan of protest, the blond stood slowly and stumbled before climbing out of the crater. He stopped briefly at the edge to stare out at the forest and then continue onward, wondering vaguely if perhaps before he collapsed in his bed if he should seek someone out to share his success with. There was Sakura and she would be happy to hear his training had borne fruit, but seeing Sakura reminded him of his failure and the disappointment she radiated that they did not have the missing part of Team Seven.

Then of course, there was Iruka but he would know little of Naruto's training and would not understand the sheer importance of what this meant. Body aching he started walking, a lack of direction filling him, along with the emptiness that came from the moment. He had achieved so much, done something this important and great, only now he was realizing just how isolated he remained from everyone else.

Why had he bothered, indeed why remain here if he had no one to share the - pausing Naruto grumbled, grinding the heel of his hand against his forehead "Great, I'm starting to sound like that bastard Sasuke."

Shaking his head, he continued onward, alone.

* * *

Deidara watched in silence as the team of Konoha ninja flashed by, thankful that Zetsu had warned them of the search group. Tobi hid as well of course, but mostly because Deidara had threatened to demonstrate the full glory of his art. Watching the last of the ninja pass the missing Iwa ninja breathed easier, true the various teams of this 'Nijū Shōtai' might not pose an immediate threat but they would summon others that would.

Deidara almost shivered at the thought of potential facing either Hatake Kakashi or the Kyūbi brat. He had researched the Sharingan, ways to combat and counter it, but he had never encountered the version that Kakashi had used. As for that 'Naruto', the less Deidara had to deal with the bastard the better...for the moment at least.

Coming out of hiding the Akatsuki agent stared after the group then turned to face Tobi who had also emerged from his hiding spot. "We must be getting closer to Konoha. The Nijū Shōtai are getting more frequent, yeah."

"Or maybe we're just passing the same groups?" Tobi suggested, in what passed for a helpful tone from the mysterious man, which prompted the last remaining artist in Akatsuki to groan. "Was it something I said?"

"Tobi, just be quiet." Deidara managed, fighting the urge to demonstrate his annoyance with an explosion. Seeing his partner's nervous body language, he turned motioning for the boy to follow along. This was perhaps the trickiest mission he had ever been assigned and for the first time he wondered why he had not been given a more...competent partner.

"I still don't understand why were avoiding the patrols, I mean don't you want to show your art?"

"Because," Deidara said, almost snapping at his partner. Just being reminded of his glorious, wonderful style, it made this sneaking all that much harder but it had to be done.

"Because why?"

"Because it would alert someone that could kill us, yeah," Deidara explained with long sufferance. "Like that Kakashi or the Kyūbi Jinchūriki and I'd prefer not to face them till I was ready, yeah."

"Oh." Tobi said thoughtfully, before adding "so you're scared of them."

"That's it!" Deidara shouted in mid-leap and turning flying tackled the surprised Tobi out of the branches. The tussle escalated as they hit the ground and minutes later, Deidara had the infuriating man in a rear chokehold.

* * *

**"Yuguito-san! Welcome back."** A heavy voice hissed from the darkness.

Yugito opened her eyes, breath hitching and as she did balls of eerie blue flames flickered into being revealing a room with all the traditional trappings associated with high class elegance. Sitting in the center of the room, amid the nearly impenetrable shadows, was the imposing form of Matatabi, who was staring at Yugito appraisingly with her distinct mist-matched yellow and green eyes. Almost instinctively the young woman's eyes flickered up to the seal over the doorframe, affirming that it was still in place and that she was thus on the proper side of the seal: namely outside.

**"Thank you, Matatabi-sama."** Yugito returned politely, climbing to her feet to address the massive Bijū made up of black and blue flames. **"I trust you weren't too bored in here."**

**"I do not enjoy being sealed into isolation, but I maintained my harmony."** Matatabi said, its large eyes narrowing slightly. **"Has our seal been damaged?"**

"It does not appear that way," Yugito offered, frowning slightly. "I may have to ask the Raikage to double check it, but it seems intact."

**"Very well."** Matatabi said, head lowering slightly. **"Now, about what transpired after the battle I want to hear everything."**

Nodding Yugito did just as the Bijū asked, because with their seal and the symbiotic balance it enforced could be easily upset and nothing angered Matatabi like being lied to. Finishing her tale, Yugito fell silent waiting to hear what Matatabi's reaction would be. They worked together well enough, but their connection was more of forced-allies than comrades or even teammates, unlike her other uncle and his own Bijū - but then it seemed unlikely that anyone else could achieve a similar relationship with their Bijū.

**"Do you believe that we are safe here?"** Matatabi asked at last, her tone flat, but her tails were twitching anxiously.

"I think so," Yugito admitted slowly, thinking about Naruto and his reaction to her. "The Hokage's protégée has taken a liking to me, and there is the fact that Kumo and Konoha are not at war. At the very least we're in no immediate danger."

**"Humans and their titles."** Matatabi spat, before her tails stilled. **"Very well then. Now as for the two I faced, did this 'Sannin' manage to kill them or do they yet still live?" **

"I don't know." Yugito admitted with a slight shrug. "Neither of them said and I never brought the subject up with Naruto-kun."

**"I wish to know."** Matatabi announced curtly and then without ceremony, the flames disappeared and Yugito descended into darkness once more.

Soreness washed over her a second later, a tiredness that Yugito knew to associate with returning to the real world. When a hand abruptly touched her shoulder, she took a shuddering breath and slowly opened her eyes to stare at the figure hovering over her. Head throbbing, Yugito groaned, trying to make out the shadowy figure, thinking of only person that would dare touch her. "Naruto?"

"Uh, no?" Came the uncertain, and feminine, voice.

Forcing her eyes to focus, the blond Kumo ninja stared up at the young green-eyed woman, face framed by pink hair. Frowning she pushed her way onto her elbows to study the curious looking girl. "You are...?"

"Sakura," the girl said with a tiny grin "Haruno Sakura."

"Ah," Yugito managed, then paused for another moment "...Naruto around?"

"No."

"Oh," Yugito managed then flopped back on the couch "...you have pink hair."

"Yeah and your sleeping on my couch," Sakura said raising an eyebrow as Yugito rolled over "hey, don't you want to get up and talk?"

"No," Yugito managed yawning "let me know when Naruto shows up though."

Then, without warning, Yugito went back to sleep.

* * *

AN:

Yeah, so...Databook 3 is available on the net, there are things in it that I don't agree with and things that are useful. So I've resolved that where possible I'll try to match up things to it, but not everything is gonna mesh. I say this to avoid unnecessary comments on the Databook and how this story doesn't match up to it. We all cool? Great!

Also, one free wish to the first person to pick up the reference I made this chapter.

_:Edited January 17, 2013:_ A few tweaks here and there. Mostly replaced the name 'Nibi' and 'Nekomata' with Matatabi, I tweaked a few scenes involving Kumo and the Raikage. Most of these early chapters were written well before he had a lot of concrete information on other villages besides Konoha and Suna. I'll edit the other chapters at a later date.


	5. 322

**Naruto  
**_-322-  
_By Geor-sama

* * *

His arm wrapped around her shoulders was a comfortable weight, other kunoichi would view it as a protective gesture and detest it. Not her though, she loved it and even enjoyed the fact that it _was_ a protective gesture, because she was only human and she needed to feel protected. Unconsciously she leaned against him, staring at the rising sun, a smile tugging at her mouth.

Of course Tsunade knew this was all a dream, she knew it from the fact that only in her dreams could she sit with Dan and watch the sunrise. Sometimes he would talk to her, his voice a soothing melody against the cold that filled her. Still, only a dream, not that she would be complaining since her waking life allowed her no such luxuries.

Sadly the dream came to an abrupt end as someone, most likely Shizune, reached toward her shoulder.

Opening her eyes, the brown eyed Hokage stared up at the startled woman that acted as her personal assistant. Shizune withdrew her hand, more than little put out by the disgruntled glare Tsunade was sending her, even with her cheek pressed against the desk. Recovering the woman bowed slightly, shifting nervously "Tsunade-sama."

"Shizune, if this isn't life or death..." Tsunade muttered, blinking sleepily at the dark haired woman as she sat up. Wiping the drool from her face the buxom Hokage studied the now silent woman curiously. As minutes passed the Hokage's temper, induced by her interrupted sleep, snapped and her eyes narrowed dangerously "Well?!"

"We have a message from Kumo," the dark haired woman said, holding a small sheet of paper out for her "we just finished decoding it."

Tsunade took the paper in a swift, sure movement, her glare at the woman slacking as she realized how nervous Shizune actually was. What was there about this message that could induce such nervousness? Glancing from woman to message and then back Tsunade realized Shizune wasn't nervous, but genuinely angry, which rarely happened.

"I'm going to need sake," Tsunade muttered breaking the seal binding the message and began reading the words. It took a moment to register what it said, then another for her to appreciate the gravity of the situation. Then suddenly her jaw tightened in anger as all the implications set in and she flexed he hand wadding the paper up "Those bastards can't be serious!"

"I had them check the message three times," Shizune said, her tone almost cold "what do we do now?"

"...Get Naruto." Tsunade said reigning in her instincts. "Then get Sakura and have her bring Yugito. We'll also need new a forehead protector, just in case."

"Of course." Shizune said and quickly left the Hokage alone. Tsunade glanced at the wadded paper she held and forcibly relaxed her fist before smacking her desk with her other hand. There was a loud crack, followed by the desk snapping in half, then the floor giving out dropping desk and her paperwork to the floor below her.

Tsunade paused, looking at the hole and blinked "Sorry!"

The only response was a series of painful groans.

* * *

Nii Yugito stared at her current host, Haruno Sakura, in a sort of muted fascination. The girl was smart, Yugito had stumbled across a few medical scrolls last night while looking for the bathroom, and she was strong since by her own admission she was the Hokage's apprentice. She knew Naruto and yet kept his secrets even more completely than Naruto had.

Currently they were seated at the kitchen table of Sakura's small apartment, eating breakfast but not saying a word. What could they say; they didn't really know each other and the only topic Yugito found interesting Sakura avoided. What was the big deal about Naruto and the secret he seemed to have, a secret that made people react badly just from hearing his name.

"So...what's Kumo like?" Sakura finally asked, glancing at her awkwardly.

"Nothing like Konoha," Yugito said shrugging "for one thing we don't let foreign ninja roam around unattended. After I went out with Naruto for lunch I've been all over the village...by the way, where's Ichiraku Ramen?"

"Do I look like Naruto?" Sakura asked sarcastically "I know vaguely where it's at, but honestly I only go there when Naruto convinces me to."

"Well that's no help," Yugito muttered before shaking her head "so. Anyway, besides not being so lax in our security-"

"Lax?" Sakura interrupted, genuinely amused "this is a village full of ninja, girl. You were watched from the moment you left the hospital; we only have maybe a hundred normal villagers."

"...so wait, all those people, everyone around me...we're ninja?" Yugito asked startled, that was different than Kumo. In Kumo ninja did not sell fruit, or work as librarians or any of the other hundreds of thousands of things the villagers she'd met had done. In Kumo, a ninja focused on their job and had no sideline work.

"Well, yeah. I mean, Naruto might be pretty trusting but he's the exception to the rule," Sakura explained with a shrug sipping at her tea "So what else is different between here and Kumo?"

"Attitudes apparently," Yugito said shaking her head "Konoha is a lot friendlier and more accepting, they seem more relaxed too. In Kumo everything is treated seriously and its all life or death."

"Ah," Sakura said, lowering her gaze to the table. Noticing this Yugito pounced, sensing a moment of vulnerability that could get her some answers concerning Naruto.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing," Yugito countered pointing at the girl with a finger "I mentioned that stuff about Konoha and you got all withdrawn. There's something wrong obviously, so tell me..."

"It's nothing," Sakura said more firmly, this time glaring at her.

"Hmm, I guess it's got something to do with Naruto's secret," Yugito said and then at the girls shock, grinned "I'm a Jōnin; I know when people are keeping something from me. I'll figure it out soon enough, and obviously since the secret has something to do with Konoha's less than accepting attitude it must be something big."

"Drop it," Sakura grated out, her gaze turning threatening "it's none of _your_ business why the villagers treat him so coldly."

"So they treat him coldly," Yugito mused, much to Sakura's growing chagrin "I wonder why. Maybe it's his family; could they have been traitors or something?"

"Wouldn't know," Sakura said fiercely "he's an orphan, his family is a mystery."

"Ah," Yugito said, frowning at this new development. Without a family shame, the village should have no reason to treat the boy so coldly. Reading the dark look on Sakura's face Yugito decided it was time to back off for the moment.

She was aided in this by the fact that someone began knocking on the door, rather insistently, prompting Sakura to get up in a huff. The pink haired girl disappeared from the kitchen, leaving Yugito to finish her meal in silence while debating what she knew so far about Naruto. It wasn't like she had anything better to do until they heard from Kumo.

"Yugito," Sakura's voice called and turning the Kumo Jōnin blinked, studying the serious gaze on the other girls face "Hokage-sama wants to see us, its urgent."

"...ok," Yugito said getting up, mind racing as a sense of foreboding filling her.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto had expected to see Tsunade eventually, but this was sooner than he preferred.

It was not entirely from his lack of sleep, though it did make him a bit snappish. No, the reason he felt uneasy at the prospect of seeing her so soon stemmed from the fact that he had finally realized something. He'd roamed around the village all day yesterday in a mindless daze, just taking in the village around him. He had seen children playing, academy students laughing and people just living.

Eventually he had crawled into his bed, and spent the night thoughtlessly staring up at the shadowed ceiling. Then as the sun finally came up, it came to him in a flash of insight. Not that Team Seven wasn't important, or that he didn't want to save Sasuke from the hell he had created for himself, but rather he had more responsibilities than just those things.

Since he dreamed of being Hokage he had to take care of the village, he had a responsibility to Yugito and he had an obligation to save his friends. Each equally important.

Sadly, Naruto wasn't entirely sure how to place things into perspective, but all he knew was that he had lost his way and now needed to try and get back on track. So he would have rather spent his time trying to think this through, but Tsunade had summoned him and he sensed more than anything that listening to her would be a step in the right direction toward getting back on track toward his ultimate goal of Hokage.

So he had dressed and followed the messenger ninja, an ANBU, then spent the last **hour** sitting outside the office listening to the raised voices just beyond the door. He was beginning to consider just storming off and letting the old bat track him down, but the ANBU guarding the exit made it clear that he would be going nowhere.

The door opened sharply a few seconds later, allowing several furious old men and women to file out of the office escorted by several ANBU. Naruto watched in mute fascination and then stood up, which drew their attention and stopped the odd procession of apparently important people. Blinking Naruto felt confused by the mixture of emotions they had on their faces, but none more-so when one of them gave him a thin smile before they were prodded by the ANBU to continue.

"Ah, good you're here," Tsunade's voice said from the office and he turned to find the Hokage sitting at her desk staring at him "come on in Naruto."

"Ooook," Naruto said, entering the room, nearly jumping as an ANBU closed the door behind him sharply. Shaking it off, but aware of the overbearing serious mood of the office, he approached the desk -noting it looked different than last time- grinning as best he could "Baa-chan, what's up?"

"Several things," Tsunade said, her scowl softening "first are you ok? From what Kakashi told me you're training was rather intense."

"Nothing more sleep won't cure," Naruto said with a nonchalant shrug, downplaying his lack of sleep "the move is definitely badass."

"I'm glad to hear it, though I'm afraid you won't be getting much sleep." Tsunade said, or more like muttered glancing out the window "Naruto, you know that when we rescued Nii-san the state of Kumo was largely uncertain correct?"

"Huh? Yeah, I guess..."

"Well we finally contacted Kumo; we told them of her safety and offered to escort her back. This is the reason I called you in, you are her friend and the news may prompt her to react badly." Tsunade explained, pausing to sigh "The message from Kumo made it quite clear that they did not want her back. As of this morning, Nii Yugito is a Missing ninja, though her village has no interest in her existence or status."

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted, eyes widening, trying to process such a thing. "WHY?"

"They feel she is more of a liability than benefit and there is a second, unsaid but obvious, reason." Tsunade continued calmly, in counter-point to his reaction "Akatsuki will eventually try to reclaim her and in so doing, destroy any Hidden Village that gives her sanctuary. By discarding her in a village they know will take her in, Kumo most likely figures they can kill two birds with one stone."

"Those bastards!" Naruto breathed sharply, eyes narrowing feeling hurt for her behalf. If he had been driven out of Konoha he would be hurt beyond words and despite what little Yugito had revealed of her life in Kumo, she would as well.

"Naruto, calm down!" Tsunade said sharply, prompting the boy to realize he was getting worked up and balling his fists repeatedly. Taking a deep breath, the blond forced his anger down, he had learned from his latest training just how dangerous getting worked up could be for him. After a few more minutes, he met Tsunade's approving gaze, though he still felt like ranting.

"Sorry, it's just-"

"It's ok, but you need to stay calm." Tsunade said, tapping a finger on the desk "There is no telling how Yugito's going to react and you'll have to talk her through this."

"Right," Naruto said with a curt nod, steeling himself for the task ahead. One thing was clear now; he had been right when the felt this was a step toward getting back on track. Then he spotted the Konoha headband on the desk and then looked at her curiously "why do you have a headband on your desk?"

"This," Tsunade said picking it up to hold out to him "is for Yugito. She needs a home and Konoha needs all the Jōnin it can get."

"So, you're going to let her join Konoha?" Naruto asked, taking the cloth band and pocketing it.

"No, _you_ are. It's up to you, another decision that only you can make."

"What decision?" Naruto asked, grinning slightly "I'm not going to let her face Akatsuki alone. I'll make her join even if I gotta kick her ass all over the country side."

"That's exactly what I expected to hear," Tsunade said smiling back before letting out a breath "now let's just hope Yugito doesn't go _too _far off the deep end when she hears the news."

* * *

Haruno Sakura tended to be a very talkative person, at least in certain circumstances. She also had developed a protective streak where her friends were concerned, though being an intelligent young woman kept her from being hot-head about it. Then she had met Nii Yugito, the blond Kumo Jōnin that had been placed in her charge.

At first, she'd been a bit amused by the girl's reaction to waking up in her apartment, though the questions about Naruto and his location bugged her slightly. After all, how could this girl know Naruto when the boy had been in isolation training for so long? The answer came that morning when Yugito had woken up and they finally set down to talk.

Not too far into the conversation, Sakura found herself unreasonably protective of Naruto. She couldn't place a finger one _why_ Yugito seemed to set her protective streak off, just that she did. Yugito was far too interested in Naruto for Sakura's comfort.

"How much further to the office?" Yugito asked, startling Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Not too much longer," Sakura said, keeping her unreasonable distrust of the girl in check, "we're talking the long way for-"

"Security reasons," Yugito finished blandly "Well can you do something for me?"

"Depends," Sakura said, green eyes drifting to the messenger/escort just ahead of them.

"I'm probably going back to Kumo, so I won't pester you anymore about Naruto's secret," Yugito explained, her tone revealing how much she _wanted_ to know despite her denial "but tell him thanks for me ok? I most likely won't see him again and it was nice having someone be so nice to me. Even if he was under orders, it was nice to have a friend."

"Wait, what?" Sakura asked, stumbling slightly before staring at the other girl in disbelief. She couldn't really think that Naruto, **NARUTO**, had only befriended her because of orders.

"I know he's under orders to gain my trust and so he's being nice to me. It's the first time someone's been this accepting of me, it's nice."

"...oh you are so stupid," Sakura muttered shaking her head, "Naruto isn't the sort you order to befriend people. If he's being nice and accepting you, he's doing so because **he** wants to. Not because of orders."

"...what are you talking about? He knows what I am," Yugito said, her eyes widening "it has to be orders. There's no way he could really accept someone like me. Besides I'm from another village, nobody would be insane enough to make friends with a foreign ninja."

"You know Gaara right, Kazekage of Suna?" Sakura said, raising an eyebrow at Yugito's nod "Naruto befriend him, Suna is only allied to us because of that friendship. To Naruto, your village means nothing and neither does what someone is. If he accepts you, then it's because he sees someone worth befriending."

"That makes no sense though," Yugito muttered, but she didn't pursue the matter. Instead, she quietly finished the trip to the tower, where ANBU seemed to be on an increased level of alertness. They passed through a half dozen security checks before finally being ushered into the office just outside the Hokage's.

"Ah, Sakura-san, Nii-san," Shizune said moving to greet them, though her smile seemed forced to Sakura's trained eye "Sorry for taking the long way, but Tsunade-sama has decided it was time to step up our precautions."

"That bad?" Sakura asked, taken aback by such news.

"I'll let her explain, Naruto-kun's already inside waiting." Shizune said, leading them to the office door.

Sakura glanced at the older, dark haired woman uneasily then when Shizune opened the door, entered the oppressive room. She spotted Naruto, who looked unusually somber, standing behind the Hokage's desk looking out the window at the village. Tsunade did not so much as react to their presence, just that steady gaze that told Sakura that her master was upset about something serious.

"Tsunade-shishou, what is it?" Sakura asked after another long moment, moving closer to the desk with Yugito hanging back as if picking up that something serious was going on. Naruto turned, grinning upon seeing them both, though it looked slightly strained.

"We got news from Kumo," Tsunade said, breaking the silence, her brown eyes narrowed "I called Naruto in because I felt it would be best to hear it from a friend."

"What are you talking about?" Yugito asked, moving forward "Naruto? What's she talking about?"

"Ahaha, see, uhmm..." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head uncomfortable before he stopped and sighed "we offered to escort you back to Kumo. The message came back telling us that they didn't, uh, want you back."

"...what?"

"I have the original message," Tsunade said holding out the scroll, which Yugito took and began reading "the Raikage's seal is authentic-"

"No!" Yugito shouted, startling all present, causing Sakura to move away more out of shock than anything "th-they might not like me personally, but I was a good ninja. I did every mission they gave me...they can't just..."

"Nii-san I know this is hard but-"

"How can you understand?!" Yugito snapped, glaring at the older woman "t-this has to be a misunderstanding!"

"We decoded it three times," Tsunade explained, then dodged as the scroll was hurled at her face. Sakura of course reached out to try and clam the girl down, but was sent sprawling by a sudden stab of chakra. By the time she recovered from the shock, Naruto had Yugito pinned against a wall and was apparently shouting at her.

"Calm down!"

"Let me go!"

Sakura started to get up, though her body still felt the pain from that jolt, but froze as Tsunade shouted for her to stay out of this. The pink haired girl did as ordered, despite her urge to help Naruto even if he didn't seem to need her help. The two ninja struggled, then finally Yugito sagged and the sound of a soft sob filled the office.

"What the hell is going on?" a new voice shouted and Sakura looked up to find several ANBU looking into the room, swords half-drawn.

"Everything's under control," Tsunade said, standing up and when the men left she approached Sakura helping her up "That was a nasty shock."

"Yeah," Sakura murmured, checking herself over before nodding at the two "she reacted nothing like I expected."

"Honestly, neither did I. But," Tsunade paused, studying the sobbing girl that Naruto seemed to be awkwardly holding "I think I can figure it out. Remember what she said, the emotion in her tone? They didn't like her as a person, but they apparently liked her as a ninja. That was her identity I think and to be discarded like this..."

"Shattered her?" Sakura finished quietly, piecing things together. It wasn't too farfetched from what little she now knew concerning Hidden Villages and Jinchūriki. Gaara's identity had been rooted firmly in being a weapon for his village and killing everyone, until Naruto woke him up in their fight, so was it so strange that Yugito would develop a similar problem?

Then Sakura realized that if each Jinchūriki shared that trait, Naruto was unique among them. Watching the two, realizing how important this seemed to be for Naruto, she spoke to her sensei quietly "Tsunade-shishou, could we take her back anyway? Maybe she's right, maybe this was a misunderstanding or maybe a trick..."

"Why should we?" Tsunade asked, giving her a shrewd look, one that made Sakura shift uneasily before answering.

"Because, this is important to Naruto and he's doing a lot for me," Sakura explained "and the village."

"Take them to an office, once she calms down check Naruto over just to be safe. It'll probably take me an hour to get the rest of your team here and Team Gai since you can't take this mission alone."

"Thank you." Sakura offered moving to the two blond ninja.


	6. 323

**Naruto  
**_-323-  
_By Geor-sama

* * *

Tenten shifted the pack on her back uneasily, staring at her team, wondering about the task looming before them. Gai-sensei had only told them, as only he could, that they had a mission and to form up at the Eastern Gate. After that, he had left, leaving the three of them to pack their gear and do as ordered, clueless as to the reason.

Sadly it seemed only Tenten felt any curiosity about the mission; Neji stood in the shadow of the gate, posture relaxed, eyes closed and face blank making one wonder if he even had emotions. Lee, the ever-active member of the team, seemed more intent on practicing a weird spinning jump kick utterly oblivious to the fact that everyone that passed glanced at him as if he were crazy.

Tenten sighed, closing her eyes out of habit, resigning herself to the insanity that surrounded her.

"Has no one ever told you that long sighs make happiness go away?" Neji asked, startling her bad enough that she nearly fell over. Righting herself, she looked at the boy curiously. As if sensing her attention he continued calm as ever. "Also, don't you think it's time you spoke with him about your feelings?"

"W-what are you talking?!" Tenten stammered, eyes unconsciously darting to Lee before looking away flustered. Insane or not, his tendency to get on her nerves aside, Lee had certain qualities that attracted her.

"Tch, denial." Neji said, opening his eyes to glance at her, his smirk far too smug.

"Huh? wha, how can you-"

"Yosh! I'm happy to see all of you burning so brightly with such youthful energy!" Gai's booming voice announced his arrival, accompanied by a distracted blond woman. Tenten immediately took note of the woman's athletic frame, long blond hair, blue eyes, obviously in her late teens or early twenties. When she noted that Lee didn't seem interested Tenten relaxed, deciding the girl could live.

"This is Nii Yugito," Gai said happily gesturing at the young woman. "Our joint mission with Team Seven is to escort her back to Kumo."

Neji made an odd noise, one that Tenten didn't recognize, but when she looked, he had turned away completely. Strange, it seemed almost as if Neji was angry with the older girl. Could they have met before now, or could it be something that Tenten didn't know? Tenten studied Yugito but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so it had to be her imagination.

Besides, even if he would get angry, Neji certainly didn't show such open emotion, he prided himself on controlling that sort of thing.

Yugito seemed either oblivious, or just didn't care about the reaction, her gaze simply pensive and withdrawn. Tenten nearly sighed again, which seemed to be becoming a bad habit of hers, but managed to stop and instead attempted to introduce herself.

Yugito blinked, muttered a distracted 'hi' and turned away.

Well, talk about unfriendly. Tenten mused, feeling disgruntled at such an obvious snub, before her anger stirred upon seeing the way Yugito reacted to Naruto. The other girl was waving and shouting 'hi' at him, her tone and posture entirely different from the earlier monotone 'hi'. But what truly angered Tenten, what really pissed her off, was the fact that Naruto was still a block away!

It even seemed that Naruto was equally happy to see Yugito, if his shout and quickened pace were any indication. Sakura and the others seemed less enthused, though Sai and Kakashi never seemed enthusiastic, much how Neji never seemed to show an interest in doing things.

Remembering Neji, the weapons expert turned toward the Hyūga genius and seeing the way his shoulders held rigidly, knew she needed to talk to him. Shifting her pack to a more comfortable position, she stepped up to stand next to him and stare out at the road ahead. She wasn't sure what to say or how to approach this conversation, but thankfully, he saved her the trouble.

"Do you remember the story I told you about my father?"

"Do you remember the story I told you about my father?"

"Huh? Yeah, he sacrificed his life for his brother when you were little." Tenten said, glancing at him curiously, wondering where he was heading with that.

"...do you not remember why he had to do such a thing? Have you forgotten who, besides the Hyūga Elders, were responsible for forcing him into such an act?"

"Well," the weapons mistress temporized, trying to remember. Truthfully, it wasn't a story they talked about very often, Neji kept his personal life and past private for the most part. "I remember it was during a peace talk between Kumo and Konoha years ago, that Kumo ninja kidnapped your cousin Hina-oh."

"So you do remember." Neji said a tad spiteful "no doubt Gai-sensei plans for this to be some sort of healing process. I however, cannot forgive them and this is asking too much of me."

"Neji, if it's too painful I'm sure you could-"

"I only told you this," Neji said a tad cool, his expression never changing "so that you can keep me from acting on a personal vendetta. This is a mission and I refuse to allow my personal, distaste, cloud my judgment."

"...I'll try Neji, but I'm not sure you need to take the risk." Tenten said, pensive and wary.

"That's all I ask." The man said, his tone obviously closing the conversation and Tenten sighed, turning back to the others.

* * *

Countries tended to earn their names because of a distinguishing element: Kaminari no Kuni because they always had a thunderstorm somewhere, Tsuchi no Kuni because of the numerous rocks and mountains, Kaze no Kuni because of the ceaseless winds, and Mizu no Kuni for the over abundance of water. Only Hi no Kuni had a name that went counter to its distinguishing element.

The name 'Fire' did not match the rolling hills, valleys, forests or fertile land.

Yugito felt that 'Kyuuka' or 'Haru' would be a more accurate description of the country, after all, despite being winter the country looked and felt like spring. Still this difference did make travel a bit more enjoyable and mentally distracting, at least for a while. Eventually though, the novelty wore off and it became no different than staring at cloudy skies or a snowy landscape.

The Kumo nin could almost picture Kaminari, covered in a fresh layer of snow, the way her breath would fog in the air and she found herself missing it.

That was her world, the country where she grew up, where she could find her home and colleagues. Her life, her memories were there, and she couldn't wait to get back and straighten out this horrible misunderstanding that resulted in her being thrown aside like a broken weapon.

They were making good time too; obviously, these two teams had worked together before. Sakura and Tenten were absorbed in conversation as only friends could be, Lee jotting notes as he followed behind Gai and Kakashi, Neji seemed content with is stoic rear guard act. The only people that seemed out of place were the creepy guy in a midriff and Naruto...

Blinking, Yugito looked around realizing that Naruto had disappeared from her side. When had that happened? She opened her mouth to point it out to the others when the orange clad blond popped back up, tossing Sakura and Tenten some fruit, before with a grin, he hurried back to her side.

"Told ya I'd be back Yugito-chan." Naruto gloated, before taking a bite out of the shiny red fruit in his hand.

"Right," Yugito agreed, feeling a tad guilty that she had no idea what he was talking about. Staring at the boy as he happily munched away on his fruit she scowled feeling left out. Sensing her dissatisfaction the boy offered up a piece of fruit, which Yugito took with a grin, wondering what female she needed to thank for making him so obedient.

"So anyway, like I said before I went to get some fruit-"

"Where did you get it exactly?" Yugito asked, interrupting him out of curiosity.

"There's a farm near here, they let me get fruit whenever I pass by. Me and Ero-sennin helped them on our way back to Konoha, anyway-"

"So you just skipped out on a mission to pick fruit?"

"Eh? Well it's not like that honestly-"

"What if Akatsuki had attacked?" Yugito asked, pointing a finger at him in a playfully chiding tone, "I could have been captured-"

"And I would have gotten you back." Naruto said forcefully, meeting her gaze with such a determined countenance, that she was surprised. "Besides, Akatsuki would think twice about trying anything with everyone that's on this mission."

"Oh and why would S-rank criminals do that?" Yugito asked, curiosity renewed as well as slightly amused.

"Well, Fuzzy eyebrows and his team fought an Akatsuki agent. Sakura-chan played a major role in killing one of 'em that kidnapped Gaara, ya know the Kazekage, from Suna while Kakashi-sensei and Fuzzy Eyebrows Senior each have made two retreat."

"What about you?"

"...I...uhm, isn't this fruit good?" Naruto said, attempting to dodge the question. Yugito guessed this to mean that he hadn't actually faced one of these Akatsuki agents, though she had the grace not to tease him about it. Then she remembered just how crafty he could be and the fact that with Sakura as his teammate, he would have been to an active participant in any confrontation with Akatsuki.

So why would a boy so intent on Hokage, and impressing her, not brag about his role in such a fight?

"So anyway back to my story," Naruto said after another moment, obviously trying to keep the conversation going "Ero-sennin got this really scary face and threatened to-"

"Ero-sennin?" Yugito asked, forgetting who that was as she tried to consider her earlier question, before remembering "ah, right, your dad's sensei."

"My...huh? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked sounding and looking utterly bewildered.

"Ero-sennin, that's Jiraiya of the Sannin right?" At his nod, she continued slowly "so he trained the Yondaime right?"

"Right."

"...and he's your dad."

"Huh?"

Yugito stared at him in disbelief, he could not be serious. Just looking at the pictures and the great big freaking face on the mountain made it so freaking obvious. Admittedly it wasn't until she had seen a photo of a younger Yondaime that she realized it, but still, how could he _not_ know.

Hell that's why she assumed he wanted to be Hokage in the first place!

"Naruto, a joke is a joke, but I'm starting to worry," Yugito said after another moment, "I mean you do know that the Yondaime is your dad right?"

"My...Oh!" Naruto said, realization filling his face before he started laughing so hard that he was almost crying "that's-hehe-oh man if that were true-heheeheheh- the council -hehehahahahaha- would die!"

"...Naruto, I'm not joking."

"Oh come on," Naruto said, still laughing. "Don't you think _someone_ would have told me by now if **my** dad was the greatest Hokage we've ever had?"

Yugito opened her mouth, shocked and horrified that he really thought that, but someone spoke up first and put the conversation on hold.

"Yosh, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei wishes for us to run ahead and book an Inn." Lee, the boy with the eyebrows she _still_ believed were flesh eating caterpillars, said. Then he smiled, teeth 'pinging' "shall we race and see which of our flames of youth burn brightest?"

"Really? Awesome, that means I get to use the hot springs before-" Naruto stopped short, glanced over his shoulder briefly then hurried off with Lee in an apparent race.

Yugito however, stared at Kakashi who looked somewhat guilty and Gai, who looked down right ashamed. It did not take her more than a few minutes to realize why and she felt a spike of the Nekomata's chakra surge through her. Sakura's head snapped around quickly, her face serious and Yugito forced the surge of chakra down but did not take her eyes off the two elder Jōnin.

* * *

Haruno Sakura found nothing more annoying than sharing a room; it came from growing up as an only child. Sakura was used to having her own room, used to being able to read in silence, but she had learned to deal. Still, listening to Tenten sharpening her weapons made her eye twitch as she tried to futilely to concentrate on the medical journal in her lap.

Sighing, the pink haired medic closed her eyes for a moment, restraining her urge to snap at the other girl. After all, Tenten probably felt the same way and only someone like Naruto would be rude enough to mention it. A tiny cough to clear her throat and Sakura refocused on the magazine, focusing on the article.

At least that's what she tried to do, but reading about treating percutaneous coronary intervention by early treatment with Repro, let alone trying to retain any of the gained information, was next to impossible for her. The sound of metal against stone set her teeth on edge, like nails on a chalk board and closing the magazine gave up the futile attempt.

Maybe a walk would be better, Sakura mused, getting to her feet.

"Sakura?"

"Huh?" The medic managed, turning toward the still seated girl who was now staring at her.

"No, nothing." The weapon's mistress said, turning her attention back to the task of sharpening her weapons. Sakura blinked, a bit confused, after all it had been obvious that Tenten had something to say.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, crossing her arms and frowning.

"I said nothing."

"Obviously it's something if you're saying 'nothing'. So spill already." Sakura countered.

"It's just, Naruto and this Nii-san, seem friendly." Tenten said before glancing at her "he gets friendly with people really quick I know, but still we don't know her. However long they've known each other couldn't have been long enough for them to get this close."

"That's just how he is," Sakura countered fondly, almost amused "he can become quick friends with anyone. Of course, you can try to stop it, but he's going to become your friend no matter how hard you try. Yugito is a little like that to-"

"A little is a little. Don't you think it's odd that she got so warm toward him so quickly?"

"...What?" Sakura managed, blinking, then getting Tenten's implication blinked again "her...with...Naruto? I mean, he's an ok guy and all, but that's not the situation. Trust me, they're just friends."

"But, I know we don't like to talk about this, but with what he is don't you think another country would want that sort of power?" Tenten countered, gesturing with a kunai "also, looking at Kumo's past they would be the kind to try and seduce him away from Konoha."

"Naruto would never leave Konoha!" Sakura snapped harshly, while ignoring the fact that she had believed the same about Sasuke. The two situations were different though, it wasn't self-delusion speaking but unshakable faith. Uzumaki Naruto might do many things, but the one thing he would never be capable of, and would never do, was betray Konoha.

"Maybe, but that still wouldn't stop Kumo. Look at what they did against the Hyūga back during the peace talks." Tenten countered, seeming only mildly disturbed at her outburst.

"Trust me," Sakura said after taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly "this isn't a Kumo plot. It's an important mission."

"I'm not saying it's not. Look, I got distracted a little but I what I'm asking is why us? I mean, what's Nii-san even doing in Konoha? Why do we have to escort her back? Shouldn't you guys be getting ready for going after Sas- _him_?"

Sakura stared at the other girl, forehead creasing in a slight scowl. Why was Tenten talking about this, surely she had heard Naruto talking with Yugito about Akatsuki. That should have made it obvious that they were a possibility, and that the teams present were the only ones capable of dealing with them on an even footing.

"This mission," Sakura said slowly, evenly, balancing how to explain it "involves Naruto."

"I guess that might explain why we're here. Akatsuki right?"

"That's part of it, but Naruto-"

"He didn't, Sakura, he's not breaking his promise is he?" Tenten asked suddenly looking disappointed.

"No! He would never break a promise," Sakura said vehemently, wondering why Tenten seemed so determined to upset her. "This mission is **about** Naruto. He's determined to get Sasuke back for my sake, if not his own. This mission, **I** asked for it entirely for _his_ sake, because this is important to him and all I've ever been able to do for him are meaningless things."

"...You guys are a very complicated team." Tenten said after a moment, a tiny scowl on her face. "Still, even if this does involve Akatsuki my team didn't do much the last time. We fought a guy using an elaborate henge, then ourselves after we undid that seal."

"Tenten, what are you really trying to ask?" Sakura asked tiredly, then at her surprised look scowled "it's obvious you're dancing around something, so just spit it out already."

"Fine." Tenten said in a clipped tone "since you asked for this mission, and since you know _so_ much, then why the hell would you put Neji through this sort of pain?!"

"Huh?"

"I forgot," Tenten said a tad cool "your part of _Team _Seven. If it doesn't happen to one of you, then it doesn't really matter right? Remember the Kumo incident I mentioned, remember why Neji was so angry and hurt three years ago? The story he told Naruto, a _precious_ member of your team, during the Chūnin exams?"

"About his dad?" Sakura asked before getting what she meant and scowled. "Well if he's got a problem, he should have declined this mission! Also, what the hell is it with your attitude all of a sudden?"

"Neji would never abandon a mission and he shouldn't have to! You should have asked _your_ sensei, the Hokage, to assign another team." Tenten countered heatedly "as for my attitude? Everyone's thinking the same thing. You walk around acting like you're the only ones that are hurt or matter, as if the rest of us don't exist!"

"...Excuse me!?" Sakura shouted, eyes narrowing "I don't know what dream you're living in, but that's not how it is. Yes, we focus on our own problems more than anyone else...but you and your team are the exact same! Everyone is that way! That's because we are closer to them than we are anyone else, we bleed and risk our lives side by side."

"That is not-"

"Tenten!" Sakura snapped, cutting the girl off "I'm sorry if you're upset because this is hard for Neji. You need to accept that the way you're acting is the exact same way that I would if Naruto was being hurt, or he would if it were me. I'm not arrogant, whatever you might think, but I can see how important this is to Naruto and I am not going to let _**anyone**_ take this away from him."

Tenten stared at her hard before looking away.

Sakura let out the breath she had been holding, then turned stepping out of the room. Man that had been uncomfortable and Sakura knew there was a tiny grain of truth in Tenten's lashing out, but she didn't want to focus on that. Shaking her head tiredly the pink-haired medic set off down the hallway, hoping that a walk would help relax her.

* * *

For Uzumaki Naruto sitting still did not exist, mentally or physically. It just wasn't his nature, much to Jiraiya's chagrin, so once he had finished his bath -and laughing at Neji who had the unfortunate luck of sharing it with Sai- he had set out in search of adventure. This tiny village however, had nothing in way of that and he'd ended up at a ramen counter and gorging on noodles.

Now while he ate, his mind raced from one topic to another, in an endless loop. There was Sakura who had asked for this mission, but he didn't even want to know why. Then there was Neji who had been scowling at Yugito the entire mission, for a reason that Naruto simply couldn't fathom and it was probably best that way. Sai oddly had been behaving for the most part, not once had he commented on Naruto's anatomy for which the blond had been relieved.

Then there was Yugito, who went from pensive to loud and back again. Here his thoughts lingered, he couldn't really get her or what she was going through, but he imagined it had to be something akin to her identity being attacked. Gaara had reacted violently to that years ago, thankfully, Yugito's brief reaction had passed without real incident.

True, in both cases, Sakura ended up hurt, but she had forgiven both so it was a moot point. Still, Yugito's identity was tittering and he wished he knew what to do in this situation. He had no doubt that Kumo had rejected her, according to Kankuro Suna had considered the same thing shortly after the Akatsuki invasion, but they'd decided against it.

Jinchūriki were weapons after all, that would be their rational, and if a weapon proved ineffective then you cast it aside. Jinchūriki were not human, just weapons and not even ninja, which made it ok. Cast them out, let them live and die in loneliness, then we can try again later with another innocent baby and maybe we'll get the weapon we want.

An audible snap pulled him out of his thoughts quickly, realizing that he had just caused the metal chopsticks to break. Crap, his temper had gotten the better of him. Chuckling and offering an apology to the disgruntled owner, the blond Hokage-to-be paid for his meal and the broken utensils, then left in a hurry.

He'd have to keep better control over his temper; that could have turned out a whole lot worse than just some broken chopsticks. Running a hand through his spiky hair, he sighed, before spotting a pensive looking Sakura who was walking in the opposite direction. His team mate spotted him a moment later and slowed before he fell into step beside her heading back the way he had came.

They walked in silence; it seemed companionable to Naruto, before Sakura finally broke it.

"Naruto, do you ever think that maybe," she paused glancing at him "maybe we're a bit wrapped up in ourselves?"

"Eh?"

"No, never mind," Sakura said with a shake of her head "it's nothing."

Naruto blinked, staring at her and then shrugged. They walked for a little while longer before Sakura spoke again, her tone pensive.

"Do you ever wonder if we'll actually save him?"

"Nah," Naruto said, knowing without words who she meant "I know for a fact we will. Even if we have to save him while he's kicking and screaming."

"Yeah."

"...Oi, Sakura?"

"Mhm?"

"Thanks. I mean, I know we need to be focusing on getting him back, but..." Naruto trailed off, uncertain of what to say but Sakura flashed him a tiny grin.

"You don't have to thank me. This is important to you, so I'm going to do all I can to help. We're family, that's how it works."

"True. But even if you say that, I'm not going to stop asking you out." Naruto said, setting her up for a joke at the spur of the moment.

"Eh? But if we're family, I'd be your sister. You can't ask out your sister." Sakura protested, as he expected, scowling at him.

"Aha, but Sakura-chan incest is best, and I want to put you to the test." Naruto retorted, grinning ear to ear.

"PERVERT!" Sakura screeched, scattering people and setting Naruto running for his life, but for the first time in a while, he did so while laughing.

* * *

Sometimes plans went awry; this was a fact of life and especially of observational missions. Deidara had enough experience to know this and to know that despite that you could still achieve your objectives. It merely required quick thinking and adaptability, things Deidara had in spades thanks to his past.

After all, when you were part of a terrorist group within Iwa, you had to adapt to ever changing situations. Be they blowing up a brothel when your target went there instead of a meeting or blowing up your own base and killing all those in the group. Being adaptable was the one trait that kept you alive in such a climate of hostility.

Of course being adaptable meant very little when faced with the walking disaster known as Tobi.

Evidence could be found in the current situation, which in hindsight should have been an obvious situation. Three factors led to it, three factors that were so obvious they made Deidara feel like a moron for not seeing them. As the forest filled with the sound of yells and a high pitched scream of terror, the artist palmed his forehead.

The first factor was Zetsu, who had not provided any further movements of the Konoha patrols; the second factor was that one of them had to act as scout and try to locate the patrol routes so that they could avoid them. The third factor, quite simple, was Deidara's bad judgment in letting Tobi -to stop the boys annoying whining- act as scout.

So naturally, the buffoon had blundered right into a group of Konoha ninja and instead of killing them, Tobi had started running.

Through enemy territory.

While screaming at the top of his lungs and calling for help.

This honestly left Deidara at a loss as to what he should do. On the one hand, they hadn't found him yet but on the other hand, Konoha would know that Akatsuki worked in pairs and would therefore start looking. Logically he should leave the fool to his well-earned fate, the boy had done nothing to earn Deidara's loyalty or help, but then there was the fact that if he didn't help things could get difficult for the group.

Of course his options disappeared when Tobi came bursting into the clearing where Deidara stood, with not one, but _three_ full teams of Konoha ninja hot on his heels.

"Crap!" Deidara shouted, turning to flee as well, jutsu from the pursuing teams devastating the surrounding forest.

"Deidara-sempai, I'm sorry!" Tobi cried, reaching the artist "they came out of nowhere! Honest-"

"Tobi!" Deidara snapped glaring at the orange masked bastard, "I'm going to kill you when this is done!"

"But it's not my fault!" Tobi protested.

Deidara ignored the boy's argument and instead considered the chances of actually escaping. Considering the way the Konoha ninja were giving pursuit and the fact that the longer they tried to flee the higher the chances of Kakashi and the Kyūbi brat getting involved. Deidara viewed that as a very bad result since he was not yet ready to deal with either of those two.

This meant they had to make a stand. Skidding to a halt and grabbing the collar of Tobi's cloak, Deidara plunged his hand into his pouch of modeling clay before flinging the now fashioned bugs into the path of the pursuing ninja. The resulting explosion, beautiful pieces of art of course, was only a distraction as he grasped more clay and released Tobi.

"So you're Akatsuki?" a new voice said, and as the smoke cleared, Deidara frowned. The four teams were still there, for the most part, but a new team had arrived. The speaker in question had a pudgy, ok fat, body and wore what appeared to be old fashioned samurai armor.

"Hm, what's it to you fasto?" Deidara asked and the rotund man's face scrunched up as he started forward. Until a slip of a blond girl, wearing a rather skimpy outfit, put a restraining hand on his chest.

"I'd watch what I said you androgynous freak." the girl shot at him acidly "now just come along quietly and we won't have to kill you."

"Ha! As if we'd do that tramp! Who are you anyway!?" Tobi asked, sounding boisterous, despite hiding behind Deidara.

"We're part of the Nijū Shotai," the girl said, her sharp features darkening "and you're a dead man."

"Eep!"

"Ah," Deidara said, interrupting the two, holding his hand up across his face, the mouth on his palm opening wide "well I'm Deidara and art is a bang!"


	7. 324

**Naruto  
**_-324-_  
By Geor-sama

* * *

It still amazed Sakura at times, the way countries could change abruptly. Crossing the border between Hi no Kuni and Mori no Kuni only reinforced such a feeling of amazement. The former remained in the throes of comfortable weather while the other remained trapped within the confines of winter and such an abrupt change suggested that the very weather knew to stop at the border.

Her companion, Naruto, seemed to share her amazement.

A nice change or return rather; it had been a long time since the blond had shown such curiosity, or genuine playfulness. Sakura almost, but not quite, admitted that she'd missed it. He had a bounce in his step, a grin on his face, seemingly somewhat restored to his original self.

This mission seemed to be doing him good; her as well for that matter. Relaxing her over-tensed nerves, no more furiously trying to work out more details concerning Sasuke. As much as she wanted, needed, him back Sakura needed a break from worrying over the boy.

Instead, she found her worries drifting toward the blond at her side, for the moment he seemed to be bouncing between her and Yugito. He was so trusting, so open, that sometimes it surprised Sakura that he could ever be a ninja or have a chance at actually being the Hokage. Mostly though, despite what she had said to Tenten yesterday, Sakura did find it a little troubling that he could get close to Yugito so quickly.

Admittedly, they did share a few bonds already (love of ramen, both cursed with demons), but still. It seemed a bit fast in her opinion and she ignored inner-Sakura who made a dry comment about being a little jealous. Either way you sliced it, Yugito and Naruto were fast friends for no reason that she saw and it troubled her.

Naruto would do anything for a friend; it would be easy to take advantage of that fact. Especially if that friend happened to be female, and showed him the slightest bit of kindness. Not that Yugito seemed to be taking advantage of it, but the possibility remained and Sakura would have to keep an eye out for it.

"Hey, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, startling her from such thoughts and when she looked at him, he continued "Yugito-chan said something kinda strange yesterday..."

"Oh?"

He hesitated, before lowering his voice "she said my dad was the Yondaime."

"Huh?" Sakura said blinking, then frowned faintly "well you two do look sort of similar...but, I mean, wouldn't someone have told you if that was the case?"

"That's what I said, but she seemed serious..." Naruto said, glancing at Kakashi and Gai "plus, those two interrupted our conversation and sent me on head to the Inn."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed, glancing at the two Jōnin in question, feeling a little guilty that she'd been focused more on talking with Tenten than listening to Naruto and Yugito yesterday "but that could just be a coincidence."

"Yeah, but ero-sennin's always said there was no such thing as coincidence." Naruto countered, scowling slightly "so what do you think?"

"Well, you could always ask Kakashi-sensei right? I mean, the Yondaime was his sensei." At Naruto's strange look, she realized with surprise that he hadn't known that. Strange, it made her wonder if Jiraiya had even talked about the famous Hokage for the last couple of years.

"How'd you know that?" Naruto asked after another moment glancing at Kakashi who seemed aware now that they were looking at him and offered a cheery wave.

"Well, I've worked in the Hokage Tower. It's not a secret really; it's in old mission records." Sakura explained with a frown "Didn't Jiraiya ever talk about the Yondaime?"

"All the time," Naruto said a hint of sourness creeping into his tone, but he shook it off and grinned at her "So, want to go eat when we get to the next village?"

"Maybe you should ask your girlfriend back there," Sakura returned, with her own wry grin, only to be surprised when he glanced over his shoulder before looking at her strangely once more.

"But Tenten isn't my girlfriend Sakura-chan."

"...I meant Yugito."

"Oh." Naruto said in realization and then chuckled "she's not my girlfriend either."

"Naruto." Sakura sighed; unable to believe how dim he could actually be, but that was part of his charm.

What little he had.

* * *

"Choji!"

The large ninja's attention changed abruptly from the orange masked figure he had been trying to smash with his Bubun Baika no Jutsu enhanced hands; he found her in mid-fall with a string of exploding clay creatures trailing after her. Arm moving it swung wide, nearly taking out a few of the other Nijū Shōtai in the process, but he managed to catch her and remove her from danger. Lowering her to the ground, and judging by the way she fought to get free, he wisely pulled his enlarged arm away from her the minute she was free.

Ino did not like being rescued by him and she had it firmly in her head that he took such chances to cop a feel.

Turning back to the Akatsuki member he had been fighting, Choji wondered why none of their attacks seemed able to land. At the moment of impact, no matter what attack or how many, the man seemed to just slip away or allow them to go through him. Of course the follow up attacks were basic, kunai or exploding notes, but when you can travel anywhere, seemingly instantly within half a second, what more did you need?

Sweating and panting, the Akimichi wondered at how they could even hope of defeating this bastard. Plus other Akatsuki member, the one that liked to blow things up and who soared over head, still remained toying with Ino's group. It didn't also help that said Akatsuki member had no qualms about throwing a few explosions toward Choji's group.

"Come on tubby aren't you going to help your friends out?" the orange masked man asked, his tone taunting and Choji lashed out blindly. Asuma had told him repeatedly not to let such things get to him, but they still did, but no real harm ever came of it. This time it would be different, the Akatsuki agent dodged the attack at the last minute and Choji ended up slamming his massive fist into an ally.

The feel of a solid object turning soft travelled fast, the snapping of bone audible for a brief moment before the laughter of the orange masked ninja kicked in. Anger blossomed; Choji wanted nothing more than to squash this bastard. Hand and arm shrinking back down he began the secret seals known to his clan and focused his chakra, with a loud exhale of breath Akimichi Choji exploded to gigantic proportions.

The orange masked man seemed to freeze in place, head craning back to stare up at him, as it became clear that the man had nowhere to run. Oh sure the bastard was fast over short distances, but now Choji could demolish vast areas and dodging would be pointless. Charging special charka to his hands, he slammed one down directly on target: shattering earth, toppling trees and knocking those few Nijū Shōtai still alive off their feet.

He caught the flicker of red and black and brought this other hand down with the identical results. The Chou Harite had done the job, now if he had just used it in the first place there wouldn't have been a problem.

"Choji!" Ino screamed and he looked at her quickly, then skyward as a massive clay dragon soared over head, many smaller ones diving toward him.

* * *

"Ya know, nothing against Sakura, but she's a little strange."

"But that's part of her charm." Naruto protested with a grin, glancing at his current partner in hunting down Ramen, Yugito. The girl arched an eyebrow, giving him a searching look, and Naruto knew he'd said something he shouldn't have even though he didn't know what he'd said. Ugh, if Sakura were around she'd know and tell him.

Then again, as soon as they had reached the small outpost town, Kakashi had pulled the pink haired girl aside. So he and Yugito were on their own.

"So, anyway, about what I was saying earlier," Yugito said interrupting his thoughts "you know about the Yondaime-"

"I asked Sakura-chan what she thought," Naruto responded, ignoring her 'look' "and she thinks I should ask Kakashi 'cause he was the Yondaime's student. But I just don't see it, I mean; you'd think Ero-sennin or Kakashi-sensei would have said something already."

"But I'm sure of it!" Yugito protested "besides, maybe they had a reason not to tell you."

"Like what?" Naruto asked, feeling a hint of annoyance. This reopened an old hope, when he had been about eight Naruto had made the mistake of mentioning the possibility to an academy teacher. They had been quick to correct his horrendous flight of fantasy, after all as they said in front of the whole class 'there's no way the son of the Yondaime could be such a loser, and besides you didn't even look similar'.

"I don't know," Yugito admitted with a sigh "to protect you from his enemies? I mean, he's famous for fighting in the last Shinobi War after all."

"Iunno, I'm not sure that I even care really." Naruto admitted, scratching the back of his head "honestly, it's not that big a deal to me. Iruka-sensei and Ero-sennin are the ones that made me who I am, I'm not sure I _need_ to know about someone that's been dead since the day I was born."

"But-"

"Can we drop it?" Naruto asked tiredly "Please?"

"Ok," Yugito relented before shifting gears "so you and Sakura?"

"What about us?" Naruto asked, happy to talk about anything over than his parentage.

"So there is an 'us'?" Yugito asked casually, or at least it appeared casual, but Naruto didn't get it or the question.

"Well, you did say me and Sakura..."

"I meant, 'us' as in are you two...you know..." Yugito said staring at him expectantly.

"Huh? What are you-" Naruto managed, blinking then blushed faintly as he got what she meant. "No, I mean...no, we're not."

At this Yugito arched an eyebrow with a hint of annoyance. "But you want to be?"

"It's complicated." Naruto muttered, looking down, hands in his pockets. That had been the understatement of the century, he didn't want to give up on the girl, but she did love -or at least had a lot emotionally invested- in Sasuke. Then there was the awkwardness between them, the 'offness' of being together and he wasn't sure that would ever change.

"Ah," Yugito said softly and fell silent.

They walked for a few more minutes in silence, before Naruto glanced at her curiously. Speaking of relationships..."Yugito-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have..."

"No," Yugito said, startled "I'm not really into girls."

"That's not, I didn't mean-!" Naruto shouted while having the decency to blush a bright red, then seeing her grin scowled. Of course, he would keep the lecherous and quiet natural, thoughts for later when he was alone.

Yugito took pity on him and put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him against her side in a friendly fashion. "I know, and no I don't have a boyfriend."

"Why not?" Naruto asked, bewildered. Yugito was far from unattractive, had a great personality and she loved ramen. How could anyone not be dating her, it just wasn't natural.

"Nobody's interested in the job," Yugito said blandly "and considering what I am, I sorta understand."

"Oh come on, nobody? You look too good not to have at least one person interested." Naruto countered with a snort, ignoring her arm as it squeezed his shoulder, wondering what being a ninja had to do with getting a boyfriend. Of course then he realized that she'd probably made a vague reference to being a Jinchūriki, which made him scowl in thought and the fact that she could accept that.

"Well, I was told once that there was someone for everyone," Yugito said absently pulling away, arm dropping back to her side "but I don't think there is."

"I'm sure there is!" Naruto asserted, nodding with total conviction "trust me Yugito-chan, some guy's gonna come along and just sweep you off your fee-Hey, they've got free ramen!"

"Wha?" Yugito managed before he grabbed her hand and started running, yanking her off feet for a moment. Soon enough she was running alongside him and Naruto let her hand go, glad that they had strayed back into more familiar waters. Seriously, this emotional crap just wasn't for him.

* * *

"You know, I kept my peace when Kakashi started that half-assed training," Jiraiya said sitting in her office "the Rasengan was complete. It was the Yondaime's masterpiece."

"Jiraiya," Tsunade managed with suffering in her tone.

"With the Hiriashin no Jutsu and the Rasengan there was no need for him to create any other techniques. So I taught Naruto the Rasengan, I taught him to control his second chakra source, I taught him a few wind jutsu though he never really got them to work right." Jiraiya said, sounding infuriated "then I play nice and keep my mouth shut when Kakashi comes up with his half-assed theory and passes it off as actual training."

"Can you please-"

"I'm not finished!" Jiraiya snapped and when she motioned for him to continue with resignation, he did. "I go out of my way to research these two Akatsuki agents, I come back because after serious thought I figure maybe it was time I arranged things for Naruto to get some training in Senjutsu...and you tell me no!"

"Naruto does not need more training," a voice said and the Sannin glanced at the ANBU known as 'Yamato' "he needs experience."

"In case you haven't noticed, the list of Naruto teachers goes: Me, Kakashi, and then Naruto himself." Jiraiya said sourly before looking at Tsunade "why the hell does he think he has any say in Naruto's training?"

"That's what I've been trying to explain, for the last hour, while you ranted and raved." Tsunade said tersely, glaring at the large man. "We've gotten reports that Akatsuki is actually based out of Ame."

"And that has _what_ to do with that idiot telling me what to do with Naruto?"

"Because in all likelihood we're going to war against Ame again and he does need experience. You had three years with him Jiraiya, with someone that can help keep the Kyūbi suppress-"

"Have you not been listening to me? Or reading my reports?!" Jiraiya snapped "never mind that fighting against Ame is risky, never mind that we know _**nothing**_ about the leader or higher ups other than Itachi, but the Kyūbi _can't_ be suppressed. Suppressing it is the same as a liver failing!"

"What part of having that _thing_ inside him is normal?" Tsunade asked waspishly.

"Its' not in the conventional sense, but it **is** for Naruto." Jiraiya countered "the only chance he has is to harness the Yang chakra of the Kyūbi. Which is why I want him to undergo the Senjutsu training, it'll help him do that!"

"Hokage-sama, I've explained my opinion. He's received enough training, he needs to gain experience against high level enemies. Let me arrange fights against ANBU members, just until we get information on Akatsuki."

"Tsunade, you know I'm right. If you ever trusted me, listen to what I am saying right now. Without the Senjutsu training, no experience that he'll gain from fighting those ANBU will matter."

"...Yamato, arrange the matches. I leave the schedule to you," Tsunade said tiredly "Jiraiya, I'm sorry but-"

"Don't bother, just remember what I said." The pervert said raising a hand to halt her apology "I'll go to Ame and get the information, suddenly I can't find a reason to hang around here anymore."

* * *

Nii Yugito felt overall, things weren't so bad, she even considered the possibility that after they reached Kumo her uncle would host a dinner for her Konoha escorts. He'd at least be interested in meeting Naruto, a ninja that had declared himself the next Hokage would be in his favor. It would at least give her a reason to keep in touch with the blond Shinobi, but even she knew how unlikely that would be.

Eyes drifting to where her thoughts were focused, she found the blond busy trying to cheer up Lee. Apparently the spandex wearing ninja had asked Sakura out but been rejected, prompting Naruto to step in to and try to brighten his day. Smirking Yugito thought that Tenten girl would have a better chance of brightening the other boy's day, her crush obvious to almost everyone.

Musing about the girl, she remembered Neji. Hyūga Neji, son of Hyūga Hizashi, who had been the head of the Branch Family. He had every right to loathe her existence nor had he been subtle about it, Kumo had taken his father's life and they had learned as much as they could from it. No Byakugan had come from the dissections but they had learned something's.

"Raiton: Gian!"

"Raikiri!"

Yugito came out of her thoughts abruptly as the sound of thunder filled the air, followed by a flash of lightning. Crossing her arms, she snapped her eyes shut, trying to block out the blinding flash. She could feel stray bolts of electricity washing over her, but the Nibi's chakra coursed up and did its standard job of absorbing them to bolster her own chakra supply. Then as the light faded and she felt it safe to do so, Yugito opened her eyes to take in the scene.

Immediately ahead and to the side of her stood Sai, Sakura and Naruto, Neji and his team had moved to the rear. Gai stood slightly to the left and behind Kakashi, and the masked Jōnin remained in position as smoke and stray bolts of lightning drifted off his hands. Then Yugito's eyes sought out the source of the attack and when she did, her body went stiff.

Her breathing grew labored as she got a good look at the two figures that were ahead of them. The stockier one wore his own mask, with a scratched Taki hitai, and a fluttering red and black cloak. The taller one, with his arrogant grin and massive three-bladed scythe, merely stood silently at his partner's side, awaiting some private signal.

"Who the fuck are you guys?"

It took Yugito a moment to realize that Naruto had just spoken up, apparently unimpressed with the earlier attack.

"Hmm," the stockier one said absently "could you be the Kyūbi Jinchūriki?"

"Could you be any stupider?" Naruto shot back, disregarding the Akatsuki's casual question, or perhaps answering it.

Yugito decided that reality broke down at the oddest times.


	8. 325

**Naruto  
**_-325-  
_By Geor-sama

* * *

"...is that a yes?" the tallest one said, palming the side of his head "come on, which one of you is the Kyūbi Jinchūriki?"

"Geez, what is it with Akatsuki; they just lettin any old gay bastards in or what?" Naruto asked with a snort.

"What'd you just say, bastard?!" The taller one shouted, arms moving in a menacing manner.

"Hidan, are you an idiot? He's obviously the Jinchūriki and if you haven't noticed, the Nibi Jinchūriki's here as well."

"Hey! Don't call me an idiot Kakuzu! It's just that after all that talk Deidara did I don't see why we need to be cautiou-"

"Oodama Rasengan!" another Naruto shouted and the two Akatsuki agents leapt in different directions, avoiding the attack and dirt it kicked up. Landing in a crouch, Naruto grinned, then leapt after Hidan forcing him backward, followed by two dozen other Naruto's.

Kakashi sighed, watching the blond give chase to the Akatsuki agent. Naruto might have gotten stronger, but he still had a bad habit of just jumping into things. That ambush attack though had been a nice attempt, he hadn't even noticed the boy slipping away and leaving a Kage Bunshin in his place among the group.

"Hmm, that Jinchūriki's not quite as stupid as he seemed." Kakuzu said, almost clinically, before looking at them or more correctly at Yugito "Not like you at all, he didn't jump right into using his Bijuu."

"Neji, Sai!" Kakashi said sharply while reaching up to lift his hitai. "Give Naruto some backup. Sakura, Lee, Tenten, get Yugito out of here."

"Wait a minute-" Yugito started before yelping as her guard team grabbed and yanked her away.

"Yosh, my eternal rival, together again," Gai said loudly "we shall make the world tremble with our youthful fires!"

"Gai, less talk, more fighting." Kakashi offered, darting toward the stoic Kakuzu, Sharingan whirling, while trying to figure out why the guy had allowed them to handle things at their pace. Gai and Kakashi separated, the taijutsu expert coming in from the left, body sinking low.

Fingers flashing through a flurry of seals, Kakashi skidded to a halt, the air turning dry as the moisture condensed into a massive dragon of water that went hurtling toward the Akatsuki agent. The Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu hit its mark, knocking the man off his feet, flipping him through the air. Landing heavily, the masked man started to move when Gai reached him with his own attacks.

Spinning to gain momentum, Gai slammed a fist into Kakuzu, then continuing the motion came around with a flying round kick. The combo of Konoha Raiken and Konoha Senpuu normally proved devastating in the hands of the taijutsu expert. Of course, that only happened if the opponent couldn't turn his skin a dull grey the same color as steel.

Gai managed to dodge quick enough to avoid a kick, while Kakashi charged forward, flashing through another set of seals. He only reached the middle seal, however, before he had to abandon the effort as a fist -along with most of its forearm- came hurtling toward him. Skidding to a halt from his impromptu flip and cartwheel, Kakashi could only watch in mute fascination as the arm retracted to the man's arm along a stream of black tendrils.

This wasn't good; they needed to kill him, and fast.

Gai seemed to have reached that conclusion as well, the taijutsu expert darted in with blinding speed from a low crouch and a blast of chakra. Kakashi watched the obviously Gate enhanced Gai shoot forward, a glow faintly visible, and even more impressive was the surprised look in Kakuzu's eyes. No doubt about it, Gai caught the Akatsuki agent flat-footed, which would prove fatal to the man.

Even as the man tried to counter Gai the Konoha Jōnin was assuming a rather unique stance.

"Fuc-" Kakuzu started, until Gai's foot connected with his chin, launching him into the air. The Jōnin leapt after his target, arms going out to his sides, then at the peak of their ascension, began lashing out. Each blow seemed heavier and more powerful than the last from where Kakashi stood, Sharingan swirling as he tried to follow the movements.

Before long, he couldn't miss the distinctive peacock fan and knew which technique the move had to be. Lee's description hadn't done it justice; the Asakujaku definitely seemed to be a finishing move of epic proportions. With one last spin, Gai smashed his fist into the man and sent him crashing back to the earth, glowing from the assault.

Gai landed a moment later, breathing heavily and limbs trembling. Kakashi winced in sympathy, they weren't young men anymore and using such moves taxed their bodies more than ever. Reaching up the infamous Jōnin slid his hitai back into place over his left eye and started toward the other Jōnin, until he sensed a surge of chakra from the crater Kakuzu resided.

"Gai!"

The warning proved pointless since the stocky Jōnin dodged back on his own, just as a forearm exploded outward, latching onto his throat. A kunai severed the black tendrils and the hand went limp, allowing the taijutsu expert to cast it aside and stare at the man who had regained his feet. Kakuzu seemed less intimidated and more interested as he began undoing his cloak before tossing it aside.

Kakashi instantly noticed the black stitches which seemed to hold various parts of his body together; he also noticed the faded scars. They appeared to have been healed a lifetime ago, if not more, from what he could see. Watching the Akatsuki stretch and groan, Kakashi felt his instinct to attack kick in and normally he would have heeded it.

This time, though, he didn't; they didn't know enough about the man to go rushing in head first. Gai seemed to share that idea as he adopted a nearby defensive position, steam from the Gates still rising off his body in thin wisps. Yet another reason not to go blindly rushing in, one trump-card had been used and proven pointless, what use would his new Sharingan be if it not only left him weak but failed to do the job?

"Ugh," The man hissed, shoulders trembling and hunching, eyes squinting. "Uooooh!" With that, four black and white objects erupted from his back, blobs that took rough shapes around white masks. Save for one, it laid in a puddle of black ooze, the mask shattered, like a dead animal and it filled the moment with a sense of melancholy.

"I'll take the lead this time." Kakashi murmured to Gai, the other Jōnin nodded curtly, and the infamous Copy Cat Kakashi hurled himself into battle.

* * *

Reality breaks down, as it so often occurred, in the most surreal ways.

A prime example would be watching your Jōnin mother beaten to death by a villager boyfriend. That broke the rules of what you knew as reality; thus, it qualified as surreal. Another example, a six-year-old girl covered in blood after killing said boyfriend when he turned on her.

Therefore, it wasn't the first time reality broke down for Yugito, far from it, but the latest had been a surprise. Growing up had left Yugito with comrades, but not friends with anyone, even her two uncles. Yet in Konoha, she had found a friend, maybe something more if she wanted to tread that path...

Only now, reality broke down yet again.

Uzumaki Naruto wasn't just the son of the Yondaime Hokage or just a ninja, no, apparently, he also happened to be a Jinchūriki like her, and never once had he told her.

Indeed, it was only because of the two men that had decimated a part of her village -one of whom had used her own kunai to pin her to a wall- turning up in an attempt at capturing them both. So, just like most other times that reality broke down for her, she'd been left surprised and a little off kilter, which explained why Haruno Sakura could have managed to lead her away from the fighting.

Of course, that hadn't lasted long and Yugito had broken free, only instead of heading back she had started off in the general direction that Naruto had taken off after an Akatsuki agent. Sakura, Tenten and Lee were trailing behind her, but they wouldn't catch up nor would they be able to stop her once she got her hands on that bastard.

Which bastard that meant, however, depended on whom Yugito got her hands on first.

Yugito registered a blur of movement on her right and came to an abrupt halt, dirt and debris kicking up a small cloud. Lee stood before her, arms wide to block her path, his chest heaving from the effort of catching up to her. Yugito shifted as if to move in another direction, but heard the other ninja going wide to entrap her.

So then, her only path was forward, but Lee struck her as the time that would not budge unless she made him. Fingers flexing at her sides, Yugito smiled dangerously before shooting toward the ninja. Lee blocked the kicked aimed at his head, a kick to his ribs and managed to cross his arms to block aimed at his face.

Yugito wanted to wince, hitting him felt like hitting a brick wall, but instead she pressed her attacks. He wasn't falling behind, actually Yugito thought he might even be winning. Her combinations were slowing down, or the boy was speeding up, not that it mattered the result was the same; she'd be in no position to continue her hunt if this kept up.

"Yugito-san," Sakura said, having finally reached them and Yugito shot her a scowl. "You're outnumbered, this is pointless."

"You think so?" Yugito asked, aware of Tenten moving into position behind her. "I'm a Jōnin and I'm a Jinchūriki, **none** of you can stop me."

"Maybe not," Sakura conceded shifting into a ready stance "any of us fighting you alone is suicide. But, all three of us attacking you at the same time? You're forgetting that we've all fought and taken down Akatsuki agents. Together we could stop you."

Yugito had to concede the girl had a point; the three of them could stop her, though she doubted more than one would live through the experience. Still, she wasn't the type to just sit around and do nothing, even if those Akatsuki were the bastards that had taken her out, she couldn't just leave them alone. Besides, she had to get some answers from Naruto about this whole not telling her thing.

"Of course, you feel threatened, but I assure you as the noble green-"

"Lee." Tenten cut him off before addressing Yugito, "Those Akatsuki agents are after you. We need to get you as far away as we can."

"Doesn't matter." Yugito summarized, glancing over her shoulder at the kunoichi, noting the scroll she held. "They're after Naruto too and nobodies trying to stop him. Besides these are the guys that took me and my comrades out, I need to confront them."

"We get that." Sakura said slowly, her tone low "but listen to me carefully. Naruto is fighting those Akatsuki so they don't get _you_. Meaning your safety is important to him, meaning I **will** make sure you stay safe. So the only way you continue past this point is by killing me."

"Sakura-chan! Your flames of youth glow so brightly." Lee said, before addressing Yugito "Yosh, the same goes for me and Tenten. We were assigned the mission to keep you from the fighting, to allow you to advance any further would be to fail our mission and that shall not happen so long as we breathe."

"You think I won't kill you?" Yugito asked, not so much surprised as annoyed. They were ninja and part of the job was completing a mission even at the cost of your life. Still, most ninja had some sense of self-preservation and Yugito had figured Tenten or Lee would be among them.

"We know you will," Sakura said flatly "none of us are naïve, but you need to think about this. We fight, even if we end up dead, you'll end up seriously wounded and if either of those Akatsuki agents manages to win their fight, you'd end up captured and dead."

Yugito bit her tongue, wanting to retort, but she kept silent. Being a Jōnin meant weighing odds and making hard choices, as much as she wanted to fight those two Akatsuki, as well as confront Naruto, the odds were not good. She could argue that they should be the time to back up one of the teams, but these three were deadest against engaging in combat.

"Fine." Yugito muttered, closing her eyes with a deep breath. "But I'm not moving from this spot."

"Good." Tenten muttered heavily, and Lee's posture relaxed. Sakura hesitated and then nodded curtly, crossing her arms, but her eyes never left Yugito. The girl was smart, if they had all simply relaxed Yugito would have escaped the first chance she got but with Sakura watching her there was no chance of that.

Meaning Yugito would have to wait, and hope to hear what Naruto offered as an explanation for not telling her about being a fellow Jinchūriki. Of course, if she didn't like his explanation, Yugito would stab him with the first pair of chopsticks she could find.

Repeatedly.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto wasn't the brightest person in Konoha, not in the social way at least. However, that did not equal him being stupid; it merely meant that socially he had problems noticing certain cues that others did. When it came to combat though, the young man's perceptiveness of minor things became frightening; indeed, he missed very little during an actual fight.

Especially after three years of being trained by a Sannin, who had never shied away from berating him. So Naruto, more than anyone other than Jiraiya, had a keen grasp on his personal weaknesses. He had average speed, he could not plan ahead brilliantly, a quick temper made him act rashly at times, his personal sense of right and wrong often stood in stark conflict with his job and he had lousy chakra control.

That last one had been the one thing that had given Jiraiya fits during their training: without control, any jutsu Naruto learned could not be safely used and even worse, he could never master the Rasengan. Funnily enough, it seemed that this lack of chakra control allowed for Naruto to do the impossible and it led to Naruto realizing a fundamental, and personal, truth.

He had power.

Power to spare, power to burn. Where others ran out of chakra, he seemed to go on forever. Others _needed_ the control, Naruto simply didn't; all he needed to do was hit his enemy.

So it happened, that while chasing the Akatsuki bastard, Naruto began pulling, charging each with wind chakra, and throwing kunai in rapid succession. If those connected they would do serious damage, Naruto though did not want serious damage...he wanted fatal. So to aide in that goal, he began forming a few hand seals, molding chakra with deadly intent.

Futon: Reppushou, a ninjutsu taught by Jiraiya, normally useless since it either produced too much wind and knocked the weapons off course or gave them too much force. Naruto could never safely use it, at least not around allies who might get in the way. Here though, there were no allies and when the ninjutsu connected with the wind charged kunai, Naruto felt his heart sing.

True several did go wild: boring through tree after tree until they disappeared, some burrowing deep into the earth without effort, one tore through a moss covered _boulder_ and kept going. Others though found their mark, tearing through the cloak, armor and body of the Akatsuki agent with frightening ease and _kept going_.

The Akatsuki hit the ground with a thud and a spray of blood, while Naruto jumped high into the air, flashing through another series of hand seals. Another ninjutsu that could not be used around allies, one that Jiraiya said only Naruto could hope to use without Bijuu aide.

Futon: Renkuudan.

Inhaling a large amount of air into his chest, Naruto exhaled sharply, expelling a massive spherical projectile of concussive wind that hurtled to the prone form and connected with a heavy 'throom'. Dust and debris were kicked up, trees toppled, the ground itself forced into a deep depression creating the home of a future lake.

Again, Naruto did not have control.

He had power.

A _lot_ of power.

Descending toward the ground, confident that he had become strong enough to stand on his own, he barely had time to register a large crimson triple-bladed scythe hurtling upward from the blast zone. Eyes widening, he reacted by placing a foot on the top of the weapon and applying chakra began racing down the handle and then the rope. Dust parting he found the Akatsuki agent, cloak bloody and staring up with a manic gleam that quickly became surprise.

Nearing the man, Naruto fell while delivering a spinning heel kick to the man's face. A sharp crack told him he had connected with the man's nose, forcing him back, the scythe coming a scant breath away from slicing him as the man brought it back. Hitting the ground and rolling awkwardly into a crouch, Naruto fired off several more kunai laced with wind chakra.

The scythe deflected most, some found their mark, but the man merely grinned manically as they tore through him with sprays of blood. Fingers coming up, Naruto created an army of Kage Bunshin, sending them in and minutes later charged in as well during the chaos. The opening came easily to him, thanks to the fore knowledge gained by his Kage Bunshin; it gave Naruto the chance to use the Rasengan.

The spiraling sphere of chakra slammed into the Akatsuki agent's chest, the man remained in place for a minute, hair and cloak fluttering from the attack and then with a crack, went flying backward with a spin. A Kage Bunshin tackled him aside as the scythe followed in his wake; destroying several other clones as it did, leaving Naruto with the distinct knowledge of what a blade to the stomach and chest felt like.

Regaining his feet, with a helping hand from his Kage Bunshin, Naruto looked at the devastated path the man had left. Naruto couldn't help but feel proud of that, he'd only recently managed to master that attack and it'd taken him a long time, but finally he had used it in a battle.

He felt good, no better than good: he felt great.

"This...is getting interesting!" An exuberant voice said, before the man, Akatsuki cloak in tatters, bleeding from wounds you could _**see**_ through and with a gaping hole in his chest, came walking out of the forest. His eyes were practically glowing and Naruto felt his stomach clench tightly, how could anything survive all that.

No, not survive.

This guy, he didn't even seem fazed by it.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I am Hidan, servant of Jashin and immortal." The man said with a widening grin "I pray to Jashin that you can kill me first."


	9. 326

﻿**Naruto  
** _-326-  
_ By Geor-sama

* * *

Explosions are, by their very nature, messy and disorientating.

They were also unstable and dangerous, the perfect combination for any self-respecting member of the male species. It didn't get much better than blowing up things, usually things that you knew you shouldn't be blowing up in the first place. Explosions were also about exerting power, expressing the ultimate form of power, destruction.

Art, by its very nature, is about a great many things.

Art is a struggle to find oneself, to understand what you truly were; Art is about searching chaos and finding order; Art is about the Transcendental, the untouchable, about something greater than oneself. Art granted something greater than any other material possession, it granted meaning to life. Art is on the side of the oppressed, it's very nature freedom of spirit.

Art -true art- is beautiful, inspiring, soul touching in a way nothing else could ever be and fleeting.

Therefore, it seemed almost natural, almost destined, that Explosions and Art would become intertwined. Oh, not that Deidara had known there destiny, or the truth about Art before his seventeenth birthday. No, he'd only had his eyes opened by experiencing the sublime beauty that resulted from an explosion first hand, thanks to a rebellious faction of his village.

At the time, he had been an average artist, one of the few artists in the village. Afterwards, when he had dedicated himself to true Art, he had become well known and a Master of the form. His skills had quickly become very much in demand, both by those that had opened his eyes and those that they fought against, Deidara had demonstrated his art for both at their insistence.

Art knew no master after all, nor did he personally hold with either side's point of view. All that mattered to him was that he had the chance to improve his Art. The curse of all Artists after all was that repetition lead to the death of Art, thus he always strove for the next great expression of his Art, the true Art.

That was why as his Kibaku Nendo played out to its adapted task, its original task that of taking out agile opponents, he urged his clay bird to circle higher. It had been a beautiful adaptation really, that stupid child had provided the best canvas for him to display his adaptability. Still, even as the Dragons exploded and the hidden spheres went off decimating the area, he couldn't help but feel it lacked something.

It seemed bland, uninteresting or creative, so his mind turned toward making the best statement he could with his Art. Perhaps the C2 was an understatement, it might not have conveyed the feelings he'd wished to express. The C3 would be better, but the question became then, into what shape should he form his new piece of Art?

Rising higher, he pondered that question.

* * *

Being a taijutsu expert meant little when you could not get close to your target, a truth that many never realized until it had proven too late. Lee had learned it the hard way in his fight against Gaara three years ago; of course, he had also circumvented that problem by increasing his speed. Speed however, could only carry you so far against S-ranked ninja who seemed immortal.

Kakashi had taken the front lines after their initial clash, ninjutsu against ninjutsu, truly displaying his bright flame while Gai tried to work his way closer to the enemy for a taijutsu exchange. So far, it had failed to produce any result other than brushes with death and at least one wounded shoulder for Kakashi.

Dodging and weaving, working his way inside once more, Gai felt a tendril sang his wrist. Others immediately zeroed in on him, but he countered by rolling his wrist to grasp the tendril and yanked it forward so that the attack tore through the tendril and set him free. A lightning ninjutsu from Kakashi bought the taijutsu user time to retreat and find a new angle to attempt an attack.

Kakuzu retracted his tendrils, signaling his intention to use a ninjutsu and Gai saw a chance of counter attacking. Without his weights, which he had dropped early in the fight, he had extraordinary speed. Simply extraordinary wouldn't do, he needed more, he needed the godlike speed the gates would grant but even as he slipped into a defensive position, he knew the risk.

_The black mass of tendrils writhed before assuming a massive bear-shaped body, a white tiger-like mask standing out starkly._

Kaimon opened and he could feel his muscles bulge. Kyūmon opened and he felt a surge of energy flood through him. Seimon opened and the world assaulted his senses unrelentingly even as his flesh turned red.

_A large flaming mass vomited forth from its mouth, which quickly sped along the ground racing toward him. _

Gai moved at the last possible minute, a blur of green darting to the right. Shōmon opened and he felt his body protest the strain by tearing at his muscles. He moved even faster, becoming almost invisible, nearly to his mark. Tomon, opened, Keimon, opened...one more should be enough Gai decided as he reached the mark placing him in a direct shot to his enemy's unprotected flank.

Pivoting as his foot touched the ground Gai changed directions, for a split second becoming partially visible and then he blurred forward. Kyōmon, seventh gate, open. His body screamed its protest, but he didn't slow down, he focused on his target, ignoring the tendrils that were moving in slow motion as he closed the gap.

Dainamkukku: Akushon, a barrage of strikes and kicks that under normal circumstance would prove painful...now powered by the gates. The Akatsuki agent seemed to crumple from the onslaught, even as Gai ducked low and spun planting a kick to the underside of his chin. Lifting his enemy into the air, Gai jumped after him spinning before delivering a devastating Konoha Yama Dageki, lifting the poor bastard even higher into the air.

Grabbing the man's ankles, panting even as his body tore itself apart, he pulled throwing himself into a downward spin before releasing the man with all of the momentum. The resulting impact toppled several trees, created a crater and left a trail of body parts behind...landing heavily, body on the verge of giving out, Gai slumped to his knees.

"Gai!" Kakashi shouted, skidding to a stop near him "how many did you just open?"

"S-seven," Gai panted, covering his mouth a moment later as he coughed, blood slickening his fingers. Vision wavering he grinned in a somewhat fond fashion staring at the devastation "I think my flames of youth were enough to stop him this time."

"Uh, right..." Kakashi managed, kneeling "Gai, I've never asked...but how many times can you open those gates?"

"T-three times a month," Gai said grinning at the startled Jōnin.

"How about in a single day?"

Gai shrugged painfully, his body and mind protesting the motion. Kami he had not felt such pain in a very long time, not since he had first learned to use the gates years ago. Idly he wondered if this had been how Kakashi felt after the fight in Kawa no Kuni, against that Akatsuki agent.

"...Well, I think we got it done this time." Kakashi murmured, turning to study the devastation "you just rest here. I've sent Pakku to bring Sakura back."

"Heh, I have plenty of youth, heh, left my eternal, heh, rival."

"Riiiight," Kakashi drawled, reaching up to slip his forehead protector back in place.

"Ok," the hauntingly familiar and impossible voice of Kakuzu said freezing both Jōnin in place. "I've lost three hearts, that's one heart to many."

Gai, vision flickering looked around before spotting the deformed figure of Kakuzu, black tendrils pulling the missing parts of his body back together. He seemed worse for wear, but it seemed at best temporary. He started to stand, or at least attempt to stand, but Kakashi's hand on his shoulder pushed him back down.

"Gai, you rest...I'll go this alone." The masked Jōnin said in a quiet aside as he rose and started toward the still struggling man.

"Cool to the end." Gai muttered good naturedly, watching his rival march toward a fight that seemed unwinnable. Just hold out long enough, Gai thought desperately, until I can use the Gates once more.

* * *

Hyūga Neji had trained to be the best, had trained and sharpened his mind to its utmost. He had been the first of the small group known as the Konoha Juichi to reach Jōnin, not a Tokubetsu Jōnin, but a full Jōnin. As such, many had viewed him, including himself lately, as the strongest of that group.

Unfortunately, that was before he saw Uzumaki Naruto in combat after three years of training.

True he and Sai still had a little bit of travelling to do, the boy and the Akatsuki agent had covered a lot of ground laying waste to countryside as they went. Making it both easy, and eerie, to follow the two battling ninja. For Neji however, the point that made him realize just how far Naruto outstripped him came when he realized the amount of time that had passed.

Fifteen Minutes.

Naruto had been fighting an S-ranked ninja, an Akatsuki agent of unfathomable power, for an hour.

Solo.

Neji, being a genius, had realized quickly how any future battle against Naruto would go. Badly. He had observed Naruto's ninjutsu use; it seemed to be the same moves repeatedly, but the amount of charka in each one whiting out Neji's vision. The other boy had an amount of chakra that simply didn't seem plausible, he outstripped the word 'large', 'overwhelming', and possibly even 'enormous'.

Naruto not only had an overwhelming capacity, but it did not seem diminished one bit despite the massive attacks he had just performed.

All of that, once the two ninja had stopped running and set down to battle, had taken only a few minutes to assess. Then Neji's attention shifted to the opponent Naruto faced, one that seemed to be making little to no effort in avoiding the attacks. Attacks that would have left anyone else a greasy smear on the ground merely seemed an inconvenience to this man.

"Sai-san," The Hyūga said, trying to pick up a pattern or weakness, as they drew closer "we should be arriving soon. I want you to circle left and provide some relief for Naruto. Long-range attacks seem to be the best, I'll hang back and observe."

"Ok, Birdie." Sai said cheerfully before splitting off to do as ordered.

Neji grimaced; Sai had the worst way of referring to people. Tenten had become 'Honey Buns' and Lee 'Greenie'; it almost seemed like the boy intentionally picked the worst nicknames that he could. The Hyūga did feel a little grateful however; that the boy seemed to be getting better, according to Sakura Naruto's nickname had been 'dickless' for a while.

Neji allowed a tiny smirk to form; wondering how many times the loud blond had attempted to kill Sai over that. On the plus side, it seemed to have worked since the boy had yet to use it in reference to Naruto. He made a mental note to ask about the efforts taken later, after this fight had been settled and they could relax.

Reaching a branch just out of view of the fight, Neji concentrated on the battle once more. Naruto seemed to be making excellent use of his Kage Bunshin, though he did wonder why Naruto kept the total number at fifty. Still they handled defense superbly, taking blows or pulling him out of the path of that triple-bladed scythe, while others attacked.

Naruto seemed to be trying to get in close for a ninjutsu strike, but Neji doubted it would be effective. Naruto still seemed to rely on the strategy of throwing everything he had until something worked. In the boy's defense, it made the most amount of sense considering the way this fight seemed to be going.

Neji counted no less than ten fatal wounds on the man and one gaping hole in the middle of his chest, yet the man had yet to fall over dead. Of course, something that Neji noticed that Naruto probably hadn't bothered to, this Akatsuki didn't seem to be bleeding. Focusing even more on the man, piercing through the flesh and into the chakra system, Neji felt his confusion grow.

Chakra had eddies and tides, some were like a raging ocean, others a gentle brook...this man's chakra looked like solidified grease, with a black-ish quality to its color. That wasn't possible, Neji thought, studying the chakra system with a sort of dark interest only a dead person's chakra appeared in such a manner and a dead person would not be able to fight.

Letting up on his view of the chakra system, the Hyūga focused once more on the fight; it seemed about even. Naruto couldn't get close like he wanted and the scythe couldn't seem to catch Naruto, the only telling sign was the way Naruto seemed to be breathing, his chest seemed to be heaving and a closer look showed sweat beading. Well, he had been fighting this monster for close to an hour alone, Neji actually felt a little surprised that the boy hadn't died from cardiac arrest already.

Focusing on the fight yet again, Neji wondered where Sai had gotten too.

The scythe cut down several Kage Bunshin, clearing a path for a round kick from the Akatsuki agent. Naruto went down, but managed to roll and avoid the scythe as it came down where he'd been. Naruto made a charge, but a quick tug of the rope pulled the scythe back, threatening to pierce him from behind...only Naruto reached out grabbing the rope to pull it taunt.

Neji grimaced, imaging the rope burns on the boy's hands, even though he grasped the idea. A second later Naruto's arm jerked as the butt of the weapon came to a halt, the rope pulled tight between him and the Akatsuki agent. Grinning darkly, Naruto produced a kunai and with one motion slashed it against the rope attempting to severe it.

The rope however, refused to cut and a second later with a laugh the Akatsuki agent lunged forward with a spike aimed at an off-balanced Naruto.

"Prepare to experience the punishment of Jashin!"

Only instead of killing the young man, he had to deal with several black and white lions that came charging from nowhere. The spike wielding man spun it expertly like a Jo staff, slaying them all and leaving behind a pool of black ink. This however had provided Naruto time to retreat, even as an ineffective explosive note went off on the rope.

Neji mumbled under his breath, even as Sai emerged unfurling a scroll to unleash a dragon of ink. An ear-splitting roar filled the small area as it hurled its body forward, mouth gapping open and clawed hands spread out. Unfortunately, the beast's charge was cut short as the scythe whistled through the air severing its head, causing the body to dissolve into a brief rain of ink.

Neji shook his head, feeling his heart sink. This fight seemed to be getting more and more stacked against them with each minute, the man appeared immortal so neutralizing the scythe would mean nothing. Besides, even then, they had the spike to content with and he could apparently handle it with frightening ease.

* * *

The air seemed rich with the scent of blood and burnt ozone, with the sound of heavy breathing and charged with spent chakra. Death stalked this area, prowled around the perimeter, eying its prey like a hungry jackal. A dodge, feint, desperate retreat creating a tension between the two opponents that could never be matched.

The most unnerving part of the whole battle however, came from the simple fact that neither fighter said a word.

High-level battles to the death featured very little conversation between opponents, you rarely if ever, learned your enemies name let alone his motivations for attempting to kill you. Those romanticized stories the villagers told, the ones where Heroes talked to their enemies for minutes on end, they had led to many pointless deaths because naive young boys and girls believed that to be the truth. It wasn't, the truth of fighting boiled down to this: try to kill the enemy and try not to get killed yourself.

Hatake Kakashi had grown up on the battlefield; some of his earliest memories were from when his father had taught him the proper way to gut a man. He had encountered so much death that like any true solider, any true Shinobi, he truly was sick to death of it. Still, the inescapable fact of the world was that they would always have such battles and good men on both sides would end up dead.

Sharingan whirling he weaved and dodged his way through the unending mass of tendrils, attempting to finish the job that Gai had started. It should have been simple enough; Kakuzu merely had to die twice more for this to be over. He had shouted something about three hearts, which jogged the faint memory of a kinjtusu that Taki had kept hidden, one that only his father had ever heard of.

If Kakuzu had _that_ ability, then he had five hearts and close to death. Of course, the destruction of the previous three had not only taken a repeatedly used kinjutsu of Konoha to demolish, but it had also made those tendrils more erratic. Hence less predictable and using the Sharingan for any length of time took a toll on Kakashi, even now.

Skidding to a halt Kakashi dropped to the ground and formed hand seals, creating a temporary wall of earth to block an incoming attack. The rock crumbling Kakashi darted forward once more, kunai coming into play as he fought desperately to get closer to the bastard. It didn't help that his left shoulder had been pierced earlier in the fight or that his ribs broken.

He had nearly reached the inner layer of tendrils, the slower ones oddly enough, when he had to abandon his pursuit. The reason came from the fact that Kakuzu had just unleashed a water jutsu, which Kakashi copied without meaning too, resulting in a large stream of water that sliced through a hapless tree he had left in his place.

Panting Kakashi hurled his body back into the battle, coming from a different direction, trying to puzzle out the lack of warning concerning that earlier attack. Still he could feel the way his body turned sluggish, a side-swiping tendril sent him sailing into a nearby tree with a sickening thud, but he recovered quickly enough to launch a Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu...which got countered by the water jutsu from earlier.

Damn it, if this kept up the man would kill him and Gai out of simply attrition. It seemed time to risk one of his three shots with the Mangekyō Sharingan; he just prayed that it did the trick and not leave him as defenseless as the repeated Gate usage had Gai. Forming the hand seal, he concentrated intently while trying to dodge the tendrils, changing his three tomoe Sharingan into his Mangekyō.

Skidding to a stop, he focused on the man and his concentration sharpened to almost tunnel vision like clarity. He could feel the air ripple and swirl, and he redoubled his efforts close to completing his task. A moment later, for a reason he didn't entirely understand, the jutsu went wide and missed his target forcing him to cover his eye and grunt as a group of tendrils slammed into him.

Rolling with the blow, he came back up and focused on his enemy trying yet again. This time however, Kakuzu moved at the last minute, leaving behind a black mass of tendrils and one panting Kakashi. Damn it, had he learned nothing from his fight with Deidara? Panting, his vision blurring, Kakashi allowed the Sharingan to return to the three-tomoe state, keeping it active would not only waste what little chakra he had but also rush the blindness that awaited him.

Assuming, of course, he could figure out a way to survive this encounter.

Watching Kakuzu, the way his body registered pain, Kakashi had a wild idea strike him. All this time they had struck those tendrils, he'd never shown a weakness or inability to reform them. Yet now he struggled, what if those tendrils were a part of his body like fingernails?

Cut one to the quick and it hurt, but it could recover, but rip that nail off-

Kakashi decided to use what chakra he had left creatively. Closing his eyes he began unlocking his own Gate -he had never mastered them like Gai or Lee but he could manage one- increasing his flow of chakra. Forcing his body up, he started forward on a dead run, Sharingan swirling as it easily predicted the sluggish patterns of the remaining tendrils.

From what he heard, Sasuke had stumbled across a secondary use of the Chidori, that being wrapping his body within a field of electricity. Only he seemed limited in creativity, using it for a non-lethal defense, but then again Kakashi had created the ninjutsu at the age of thirteen. A supercharging of the chakra turned it to lightning; he extended it outside of his body, wreathing his body within its field as he charged.

Those tendrils that thought to wrap around Kakashi were instead ripped apart, it would prove lethal if anyone were foolish enough to encounter it. Still, it happened as he expected, the tendrils retreated and a mask began to form. Kakashi's hand flashed out grasping a tendril as it retreated, pulling it taunt as he channeled the lighting chakra down his arm, into the tendril and sent it racing along the path to the target in a Raiton: Raigeki no Jutsu.

Of course, Sasuke apparently called it Chidori Senbon, a bit pretentious in his opinion. He grinned as the lightning reached the target and caused the eagle mask that had been preparing an attack to shatter with a rush of wind that knocked Kakashi off his feet and sent him tumbling end over end. Four down...Kakashi thought numbly, struggling to breath.

Trying to sit up, he felt a rough, heavy hand grab his shoulder and help. Sweating and feeling entirely too old, Kakashi looked up at the far more battered Gai, who stared at the regrouping enemy in a fatally determined way.

"Is there a way, my eternal and cool rival, for you to finish his last heart?"

"I used up a lot of chakra," Kakashi admitted, wincing as his body protested his struggle upright "but if I could get him to stand still for a Kamui..."

"Then leave that to the Green Beast of Konoha."

Kakashi grimaced as he stumbled, Gai's steadying hand releasing him. He realized a split second later what Gai had said, and his attention shifted to the already charging taijutsu user. He had expected a burst of blinding speed and strength, granted by the Gates, but instead he saw the man use his Ishi Bunshin no Jutsu and simple Taijtusu powered by a battered and bruised body.

It didn't take a genius to realize what Gai had, his body would be unable to support even for a moment another use of the Gates. This would not end well Kakashi realized, even as he began funneling the remaining chakra to his Sharingan, preparing for one last attempt. Whatever deities were listening, Kakashi thought briefly, please don't let this be in vain.

"Yosh my eternal rival," Kakashi muttered, feeling the Mangekyō form once more and zero-in on its target "burn that youth brightly."


	10. 327

**Naruto  
** _-327-  
_ By Geor-sama

* * *

There are certain problems when fighting an opponent as a group.

Communication for one, since it would allow for coordination, hand signals were good for ambushes but for actual combat you needed some thing else. Radios were a nice idea, especially for the more tactical inclined to direct the combat for the team, but sometimes you simply didn't have time to put them in and once the fighting started you couldn't waste time putting them in. That's where knowing your team mates, being able to predict their actions and techniques they would use, became a priority.

Sai and Naruto did not have years of experience working together, but they _had_ some, so they could make reasonable assessments and judgments of what the other would do. Together, the two young men should have been able to handle any enemy that foolishly got in their path, especially with the kind of power Naruto was throwing around.

Unfortunately the enemy this time happened to be immortal.

Naruto and Sai had been hammering away at this seemingly immortal man for the better part of an hour with little to show for it outside of Sai's slowing reaction time and Naruto's labored breathing. Neji observed the battle with a sort of detached interest, but there was no doubting that merely observing would gain them nothing. Unfortunately just charging into the fray could cause complications, communication and coordination would not be on their side but delaying could cost Sai his life.

Weaving his way through the various Kage Bunshin, the Hyūga set his mind toward catching the enemy from behind. Sai and Naruto were keeping the man's attention focused on them and while direct physical attacks seemed useless, perhaps attacking the inner coils could be of some help. Of course, there was also the fact that the man's chakra seemed like something found within a dead body so it was doubtful, but it was worth a try.

Coming within range, Neji adopted his stance and attacked the man's unprotected back with a Hakke Rokujuuyonshou. The rapid fire of his chakra charged fingers striking each tenketsu was impressive: two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four! Pausing he watched as the Akatsuki agent stumbled forward from the impact, half-turning to face him, while taking his eyes off Sai and Naruto.

"Sneaky little rodent!" the man shouted, scythe whipping around before a kunai caught him in the ribs followed by an explosion. Thankfully Neji had enough time to use a Kaiten to deflect the scythe and the debris from the explosion. Coming out of the spin a moment later, he stared through the lingering smoke and debris and felt his mouth go dry.

The man had been thrown into a tree by the explosion, unsurprising, but it hadn't killed him. The Akatsuki agent used scythe and tree to regain his footing, while grinning. That wasn't what made Neji's mouth go dry though, it was the exposed ribs (what remained of them at least) from where the explosion had went off.

"Prepare for judgment fucknut!" Hidan shouted, charging forward, the twisted and disjointed arm holding the pike plunging forward.

Neji recovered from his surprise and extending the chakra from his body, drove his own palm forward, slamming it into the man's almost non-existent chest with enough force to drive him back into another tree. His relief turned to worry as he caught the scythe coming at him in a looping swing that he'd been too focused to notice, thankfully though a Naruto Kage Bunshin got in the way and Neji was spared the effort of a desperate Kaiten

Sai jumped in, picking up the slack and Neji shook his head. This should have been impossible, nobody should still be alive after all of that and especially in the sort of condition that body had been in. What disturbed him most was the fact that despite his body's state, Hidan could apparently still fight as well as he ever could.

Spotting Naruto, who seemed to be catching his breath, Neji checked on Sai. The ink user seemed to be handling the fight for the moment, well enough that he wasn't about to end up dead if Neji and Naruto took a moment to come up with some sort of plan. Satisfied, he caught Naruto's attention and made a motion that they should fall back, the young man hesitated with a glance at Sai and then nodded in agreement.

"We can't keep this up," Neji said once they were both hidden from immediate view. "Sai is getting slower, My attacks are not making a difference and eventually _you_ will get too tired to keep fighting."

"Then what do you suggest?" Naruto asked harshly, breathing heavy. That was when Neji noticed the influence of the Kyūbi: darker whisker marks, the canines and the bushier hair. Naruto was on the edge of exhaustion, which Neji should have realized sooner, considering the amount of power and length of time the boy had been fighting.

"Retreat. Unless you have a technique that you have not used yet, one that you believe could end this."

"There might be one." Naruto muttered, voice a low growl.

"Then why have you not used it?" Neji asked, voice sharpening to the command tone he used on missions.

"Because it takes five minutes to form, I can only maintain it for twenty seconds and after what I've hit him with I'm not sure it'll work!" Naruto snapped, glaring at him. "That's not counting that its extremely hard to find a damn opening to hit him with it."

"I see." Neji said, briefly activating his bloodline to check on the battle, just as the scythe came within inches of hitting Sai "I could act as distraction, along with Sai to give you the opening."

"That's not a-"

"I can read his movements, I can avoid his attacks easily." Neji said interrupting him "We must cross this dangerous bridge, the longer we linger, the more danger this mission is in."

Naruto was silent, his hands clenching and unclenching, jaw muscles tightening. The boy was arguing with himself, but Neji didn't see why, this was the only plan they could risk in this situation. He opened his mouth to explain this, because with each moment Sai came closer to death, when Naruto beat him to it.

"I developed this technique to stand on my own, and for others." Naruto paused, setting his jaw "more than that, if this fails then you and Sai need to be in a position to retreat immediately, since I'll have to unleash the fur ball. I'll cross this bridge alone."

"Naruto you can't-"

"Leave this to me," Naruto said, turning to met his gaze "I've made everyone wait and protect me for too long since I returned."

Neji stared back steadily, meeting that gaze, reading the intentions within his friend. Naruto wanted to stand on his own, he wanted to show that he could protect others and he **would** cross this bridge alone. It was then that Neji realized that this was Uzumaki Naruto the future Hokage and he knew that he had a job to do.

"As you wish," Neji said, then as the boy moved back into the fray, shouting for Sai to get out of his way, Neji stared at his back adding "Hokage-sama."

* * *

__

Ame, one of two private bedrooms in the Tallest Tower...

Pain sighed ever so softly, waking from his slumber as he noticed the subtle chakra of Zetsu. Sitting up, he reached to touch the sleeping form of Konan, but paused as the woman stirred before speaking softly "I'm awake."

"I'll see what it is." Pain offered, getting up and throwing his red and black cloak on. Privately he was thankful for the chance to depart with an excuse, normally after a night together things were strained upon waking up. If only she had not become attached to this body, Pain mused before stepping into the seemingly empty hallway and setting aside personal concerns. "What is it Zetsu?

"Like you asked, we checked up on the 'Zombie Twins' at the Base in Tea Country," the man answered in his normal voice, as he seemingly sprouted from the wall before Pain. **"We FoUnD tHe SaNbI RaMpAgInG bUt ThEy WeRe NoT aRoUnD."**

"As I warned him," Pain said, keeping his tone flat and even. He had told Madara that those two would not let it go, Hidan would view it as a challenge and Kakuzu simply as a chance to make more money. "Have you contacted Tobi and Deidara to tell them those two are on their way?"

"No," Zetsu said, golden eyes seeming to glint **"We'Re AtTeMpTiNg To SuBdUe The BiJuU."**

"I see." Pain said, before narrowing his eyes "Return to your efforts, I will send another team to see to it. Then I wish for you to find Kakuzu and Hidan."

**"Of CoUrSe.**" Zetsu said before melting back into the wall, his chakra dissipating seconds before Konan stepped out of her room wearing her own cloak.

"I can go to help, if you wish." Konan offered, her voice dispassionately melodious.

"No," Pain said, shaking his head as he started for a nearby room "It was his mistake, we'll let him and Deidara clean it up."

"He will not like taking orders," Konan intoned following after him "you know his history."

"I am not Senjuu," Pain responded, entering the private room with the stone basin in the middle "he created this problem, he will clean it up or he will suffer the judgment of god."

Pausing he concentrated his chakra, forming the hand seal and uttered a single word "Assemble."

Deidara's distorted image arrived first, his eyes showing an interest. Tobi soon joined him, though he seemed to be crouching. Lowering his hands Pain addressed them calmly, though his eyes lingered on Tobi. "We seem to have a problem, Hidan and Kakuzu have abandoned the Sanbi in the Tea Country base."

_"What are they thinking, yeah?"_ Deidara asked, before glaring at Tobi _"Tobi, you should be paying attention! This is an important meeting-"_

_"Ah, right, right,"_ Tobi said, though he didn't stand up. Looking at Deidara he began rubbing the back of his head _"Hehe, are you sure I can't-"_

_"No."_

_"But-"_

_"No!"_ Deidara snapped, glaring at the orange masked man.

__

"But sempai! Tobi's a good boy and I really want a pet!"

"Enough." Pain said curtly, and though the others missed it, Tobi's head had turned sharply a fraction of an inch toward him. "Tobi, do whatever you want with whatever it is you want for a pet. But you'll have to come back for it later, right now you and Deidara are heading for Tea Country to subdue the Sanbi."

_"But were supposed to be capturing the Nibi Jinchūriki!"_ Tobi whined, but Pain saw the way those shoulders were squaring.

"She can wait," Pain said blandly, "Zetsu is doing his best for now, but you need to get there as quickly as you can."

_"Don't worry, yeah, we'll subdue it quick."_ Deidara offered, the now silent Tobi projecting an aura of pouting. Seeming to sense this Deidara sighed, closing his eyes _"Don't worry Tobi, we'll come back for your new pet."_

_"Ok," _Tobi muttered like a little child, and then turned addressing something that Pain couldn't see _"Just be a good pet and wait ok? Don't worry about a thing."_

"Dismissed." Pain said, allowing the jutsu to dissolved and both figures faded away with a flicker. Sighing he shared a look with Konan, both knowing that the other was thinking the same thing.

Tobi with a pet, this could not be a good thing.

* * *

Rock Lee didn't have the best memory, Tenten had a better one and Neji at times seemed to have a photographic one, but he could remember things. It just happened, that generally speaking, he didn't bother remembering things until something jogged it. Sometimes, he discovered, that it was funny how the strangest things would trigger a memory, not a 'haha' funny, but still funny.

Take for example when he finally realized that Yugito was like Naruto, with a demon trapped inside her- well, no in hindsight even he could admit falling out of the tree had been pretty funny. Painful too, but funny in its own 'ha' way. Of course after he recovered he had wanted to ask if her demon had been trapped inside her as a last ditch effort to save her own village, but that wasn't exactly something you could ask.

Judging by Naruto, it was a subject best left alone for as long as possible. The blond certainly hadn't enjoyed explaining the details to Lee's team on the way back to Konoha after saving the Kazekage. So Lee had tried to make small talk with the three girls, pleased that Sakura had managed to calm Yugito down, though they were forced into a compromise of staying where they were at.

That was, of course, until Kakashi's dog had turned up and called Sakura back for her medical expertise. Lee, like the other Konoha ninja, had stiffened, a silent fear clutching at his heart and when he heard the answer to Sakura's question he had charged off without a word, heading for the clearing. It was Gai who needed Sakura, Gai who his mentor and friend, the closet thing he had to a father...so Lee ran faster than any other ninja -besides Gai- in Konoha could run.

He came hurtling out of the tree's at top speed, but before he even touched the ground it was all over.

The Akatsuki agent the two Jōnin had been battle was shrouded in an odd distortion of air, Gai was toppling sidewise with a spray of blood as a tentacle tore through is chest and stomach, stretching toward Kakashi...when with an audible 'snap' the Akatsuki agent disappeared, the tentacle fell to the ground lifelessly and Gai hit the earth with a 'thump'.

Lee touched down, stumbled from his momentum and then collapsed to his knees, memory jogged. Four years ago, Lee had asked Gai if he would ever die and Gai had told him 'he would die when he had nothing else to teach Lee' and then flashed him a smile. Sakura arrived a minute later, blowing past a now toppled Kakashi, heading directly for Gai.

Lee though, knew better and he fell forward onto his hands, fingers gouging into the earth, weeping openly.

* * *

Stupid little rat, Hidan thought, flicking his wrist to guide his triple-bladed scythe after the black haired prick currently in his sights. Slicing down ink lion after ink lion, while the creator jumped around, Hidan screamed in frustration. This wasn't the fight he had wanted, he wanted the blond Jinchūriki back, that had been a fight worth breaking the goal of reigniting war for!

The Jinchūriki had been different than the last one, not only because he fought on an equal footing but because the voice in his mind was whispering the hosts name. 'Naruto', this would be the one he could fight to his fullest, the one in which Jashin would receive the glory and praise that he deserved- but the boy had pulled back with the other one leaving the ink user as a distraction.

Hurling his body forward, Hidan increased the tempo of his attacks, screaming obscenities and insults. If he could just get the merest drop of blood from this bastard then he could end this travesty and resume the proper battle. Loosening his grip on the hilt of his scythe, he chased after the rat, swinging wildly after him.

A sudden change in directions, obviously as a trap, met with Hidan skidding to a halt and adjusting his grip to hold the rope before swinging it around his head in a circular arc. The just beginning to rise ink shadows were cut down before they were full-formed and the belly-bearing ninja froze in surprise, but not Hidan.

The Jashin worshipper lunged forward, the scythe held across his body at an angle before it slashed out in search of blood and flesh. Instead it received an explosive Kunai to the side that blew it off course, prompting Hidan to jerk his arm to draw it back to his grasp. Holding it once more he turned his attention back to his prey but paused upon finding his earlier target once more on the field.

A different bearing of course; the shoulders were squared and his face set to match the type Hidan had seen on countless other brave shinobi. Resolute, confidence, _power_. More impressive was the fact that his eyes were midnight blue with elongated pupils.

"Ready for round two fucker?" Hidan asked, resting his scythe on his shoulder, grinning as he realized the others had disappeared. Probably going to try and flank him- "do you think those two cockroaches catching me from behind is going to work? I'm Immortal ya dumbass!"

Naruto, proving his naiveté, lifted his fingers into a seal that Hidan had become familiar with. A second later two dozen Naruto's came charging toward him. They jumped and spun, shuriken and kunai raining down on him, taijutsu attacks coming from every direction, but the result was the same: Hidan swung his scythe, cutting down the Kage Bunshin, using it to block or counter the taijutsu attacks, absorbing the strikes of the weapons without flinching.

Pulling a Kunai from the side of his neck, he tossed it away and resting his scythe across his shoulders "Get it yet? I-mm-ort-al, as in 'I can not die'!"

The Jinchūriki however, just stared as if- _as if he was _trying_ to stare _him _down_! Hidan wanted to laugh at the concept, with his bloody past this idiot thought that he could stare him down? A boy that wasn't even out of his first life was going to stare down him, the immortal Hidan no Chigatana, servant of Jashin?!

"Its not about you _being_ immortal," Naruto screamed, charging forward wildly "its about _how_ immortal you are!"

Hidan couldn't help but laugh at that, he laughed even as his triple-bladed scythe lashed out in a slashing arc that forced Naruto to jump. Yet no sooner had Naruto landed on the other side than he continued his forward charge, right hand sweeping back, and Hidan flicked his wrist causing the scythe to whip back to him. The Jinchūriki hit the ground, allowing it to pass harmlessly inches over head before he lunged up and forward once more.

Catching his scythe, Hidan lifted it over head and spun it in his palm before hurling out straight ahead. Naruto of coursed dodged to the left of the weapon and Hidan flicked his wrist changing the direction of the triple-blades effortlessly into a side swipe. Naruto ducked franticly, continuing to charge and Hidan gloated silently, left hand flexing around the black pike he had hidden in the sleeve of his cloak.

The triple-bladed scythe danced and weaved to its sadistic masters every whim, luring the short-sighted Jinchūriki closer while distracting him from the true danger waiting at the end of his plan.

A final sweep of the scythe toward the legs and the blond threw himself forward into a shoulder roll, and Hidan's eyes flashed with glee. The right arm was moving, sweeping from behind the boys back as he rolled into a kneeling position, that sphere of chakra no doubt on its way. Hidan struck at that moment, pike plunging toward the young mans unprotected shoulder, only to have it instead pierce the right hand that had come forward to...grab it!

Surprised, Hidan heard the rush of chakra and belatedly realized that the chakra sphere had been in the left hand. The ball was slammed into his sternum hard, forcing Hidan to double over before the attack sent him corkscrewing into the air. Hidan might have laughed, because he had still struck his enemy, but even as he rose into the air he could see the Naruto that had hit him disappear in a puff of smoke.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.

A moment later something struck his back; something with a hundred million teeth, twisting and gnawing into his flesh. A thousand million barbs that tore into his muscle and bone. A indescribable burning flood that boiled away blood and chakra, even as his body bulged grotesquely from the surge of power.

He was treated, in his last moments, to a glimpse of the past:

__

The First Commandment of Jashin: Thou shalt die.

Yugakure had been a Shinobi village for decades, but sometime between wars it had begun to turn toward peace. Eventually the Shinobi, who had bled and died for their village, were told to set aside their weapons and desire for war, to give up their honor. There were many that could not do this, _would not_, but they were unable to stop foul peace from coming: a peace with its foundations built on their corpses, its crops watered with their blood, homes warmed by their lost honor, and happiness based on their kunoichi whoring themselves while their fellow comrades became prideless merchants.

Hidan had been one of the few, the precious few, that clung to the old ways. Clung to war and strife, refused to surrender to the obscenity called peace, and he had suffered for it. Suffered for it, until he alone remained and saw the village become decadent, wallowing in the sin of peace, and Hidan knew despair.

That was what made Hidan accept the Cult's offer, it was a chance to return to the world of war. Nothing else mattered in comparison to that, his soul yearned for the strife of war, and the Church of Jashin offered to let him bathe in it to his hearts content. So he had agreed to their forbidden technique, uncaring that they had yet to succeed in its use.

The last words he could remember, as he laid on the floor in the center of Jashin's symbol before the priest had driven a pike through his chest, was part of the spell they used: 'Die, before you wake, neither living nor dead shall you be.'

__

The Second Commandment of Jashin: Thou shalt massacre thy neighbor.

When he awoke the cult had erupted into cheers and jubilation, dancing and tears of joy. They presented him with his triple-bladed scythe and told him to dedicate it to Jashin for it was to be a sacred weapon. He had hefted the weapon, fascinated with its weight and gleaming blades, until he felt something at the back of his mind whispering to him...

The scythe swung of its own accord, cutting the nearest member of the cult down in a spray of blood.

A Sacrament of blood, the first of many to come.

The others froze starring in horrified wonder, and Hidan the true servant of Jashin, wondered if this thought had never occurred to them. Hefting his weapon he set to the task of slaughter, of upholding the commandants of Jashin and as he did so a song from his childhood sprang to his lips:

Higher than a house, higher than a tree.  
Oh! whatever can that be?  
Spring is coming,  
Here in the mountains,  
Here in the village,  
Cherry Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms everywhere,  
A Mist of blossoms fills the air...  
Higher than a house, higher than a tree.  
Oh! whatever can that be?

By the time he finished the room was a scene of hell; blood coated everything and spilled guts covered the floor, the stench of death filled the air and he stood alone in the dark room of damnation, a grin on his lips and scythe resting across his shoulder. A devil of bloody retribution unleashed, one that went forth attacking and slaughtering the whored village he had once served.

This was the birth of Hidan no Chigatana.

__

The Third Commandment of Jashin: Give glory unto Jashin.

Hidan had killed for weeks after that, discovering his immortality and his technique 'Jujutsu: Shijihyouketsu'. But once he had slaughtered every man, woman, and child of his village there had been an emptiness of sorts, mindless murder did not suit him. So he distracted himself briefly by joining other villages during the Second War, drifting from village to village slaughtering all those that he felt the desire to.

Kakuzu had first met him then, were they briefly fought until it became clear that they were each equally immortal. After that war, Hidan spent his time questioning his relationship with Jashin, his purpose in life, and when the Third War came he once more slaughtered mindlessly all those that he felt the call to.

Still he never encountered any of the names that had haunted the edges of his fevered dreams during that time; Yahiko, Minato, Saturobi, Itachi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Kakashi...

After the war, Hidan settled on a different task. This time he would bid his time between wars by scouring the land, exterminating those that forgot the meaning of what it meant to be ninja. This was his purpose, slaughtering those that would have eventually corrupted this land of slaughter toward the accursed peace that suffocated the soul.

He had given Jashin glory everlasting!

Eventually a new name had begun to claw at his mind, burning itself into his fevered dreams. But the name never fully formed, but when Kakuzu appeared to draft him into Akatsuki the voice of Jashin commanded him to go. Because he would encounter the owner of that name if he did so, and more than the previous this name must not escape Hidan's scythe. For they was the gravest threat...

Then, just as suddenly as it had came, the glimpse of the past was washed away as the white-blue light of his murderer washed over him...

"Praise Jashin."

* * *

Tenten wasn't sure how to feel about being left behind; Lee had shown speed that she personally had never seen. It also went without saying that while she found Gai's antics annoying, he was important to her as well and she wanted to rush to him. But Sakura had grabbed her arm, painfully too, and told her forcefully that she needed to stay with Yugito since that was who the Akatsuki were after.

Then the pink haired medic had hurried after Lee (_her_ Lee!), leaving her and Yugito alone in the forest.

Huffing in annoyance, Tenten glanced at the other woman who had settled onto the branch. If it wasn't for Yugito none of this would be happening, no, if it wasn't for _Sakura_ this wouldn't be happening. Tenten mused about how radically Sakura had gone from useless cannon fodder to the bossy and dangerous young woman that everyone dealt with on a regular basis.

"Is she always like that?" Yugito asked after a moment, before glancing up at her "Sakura I mean?"

"She's a very decisive person." Tenten answered, having no desire to talk with Yugito. After all, even if this mission wasn't entirely her fault, the woman did hail from Kumo and she would not forgive that village for the pain it caused Neji.

"You don't like her do you." Yugito said after a moment, her tone bland "Or me for that matter."

"She makes me mad sometimes," Tenten admitted, feeling a little embarrassed for letting her emotions be so obvious "but I don't know you well enough to like you or hate you."

"Mhm, I think you don't like me cause I'm from Kumo." Yugito said absently "I'd say because I was a Jinchūriki, but you don't seem to mind Naruto being one so that can't be it."

"I never said I didn't like you, I said I don't know you." Tenten protested "I mean, Kumo isn't exactly my favorite place for what its done to Neji but-"

"And I'm a Kumo kunoichi, a Jōnin." Yugito said succinctly "I can read you and almost everyone else like a book. There are some that I can't, but you might as well be made of glass."

"Ok, now I'm starting to dislike you."

"Hmm, really?" Yugito said, giving her a side-long glance "Would you like to go check up on your, uh, _teammate_?"

Tenten felt her cheeks turning red.

"I mean as much fun as it is sitting around, I'd rather be back there working out some of my frustrations out. Besides, I owe these Akatsuki."

"There the reason youre in Konoha?" Tenten asked, trying to ignore the heat from her blush.

"There responsible for it, yeah." Yugito admitted, before standing up on the branch "So, should we go back there? I'm sure Lee would be happy to see you."

"Why would he?" Tenten asked hotly, forcing herself to met the others gaze.

"Because he has the hots for you as much as you have the hots for him," Yugito answered with a shrug "I might not be 'experienced' in that sort of thing, but I am well trained in knowing it when I see it."

"I don't know what youre talking about!" Tenten protested, looking pointedly away, before chewing her lip absently. Yugito _was_ a Jōnin, and they were facing Akatsuki so wouldn't more backup be a good thing? But that would put the mission at serious risk though and as a ninja she couldn't do that just because she was worried about Lee.

"Look, I'm going back, you can stay here if you want."

"Wait, you can't just-" Tenten said, turning before realizing the other girl had already taken off. Grumbling Tenten followed suit, fighting to catch up with Yugito, more annoyed than ever. Grumbling under her breath, but partially relieved that she would be able to see Lee and make sure that he was fine, Tenten made a half-hearted effort at stopping Yugito.

The blond girl disappeared through the edge of the forest seconds before her, even as Tenten realized that the air was silent and still. A moment later she leaped through the foliage, and her eyes widened as she took in the scene of carnage. Touching down she stumbled, then recovered while her mind struggled to wrap itself around the moment.

Kakashi laying face up on the ground, Sakura bent over the still form of Gai the glow of her medical skills evident even here...and Lee kneeling on the ground, shoulder shaking, sobbing uncontrollably.

It was all too much, too big to deal with...so her mind settled on the one thing she _could_ deal with. It took only three steps but soon enough she was kneeling next to the sobbing form of Lee, arms wrapping around him, pulling him close. He came willingly, his sobs growing heavier as she rocked slightly and whispered soft words to him.

That was the thing about Lee, for all of his physical strength and his indomitable spirit; he still had moments of weakness. They were more pronounced than one would expect from a ninja, such pure emotional outbursts were only 'normal' for Lee and Gai, though rumor had it that Naruto had a tendency to have one on occasion. Tenten understood this, accepted this, treasured it really...because if she could not offer him moral support then she would have very little to offer the young man she had come to respect and care for.

"Lee, I'm sorr-"

"Be quiet." Tenten hissed, glancing up at the startled Sakura "this is _your_ fault. We don't need your sympathy."

"My fault?" Sakura asked hollowly, staring in confusion at the girl.

"Yes! You had to do this for your team, had to make a noble gesture...and you didn't care who got hurt!"

"Tenten that's not-"

"Don't try to rationalize this!" Tenten shouted, startling Lee from his sobs and forcing Sakura to step back from her "Gai's gone because of your selfish desire to-"

"Shut up." A voice said from behind and to the left, cutting the words off without effort.

Tenten's head snapped around to glare at the owner of the voice, to tell him just how much she did not want to hear him and just how little he actually had to do with this. That died on her lips, or more accurately, it died in her throat as she stared at the three ninja entering the clearing.

Neji looked no different than when the fight had first started, maybe a little tired but nothing major. Sai looked to be on the verge of collapse from exhaustion, not that he was using anyone for support; he simply stood there stoically with that grin of his. Naruto though, well he didn't look as if he was about to collapse, but he looked beyond exhausted and more importantly he had splotches of blood covering him.

Even that wasn't why she stopped her words; it was the look on his face. He had a hard look on it, as if he was in no mood and pushing him just now would lead to a very painful, and final, confrontation. It was the sort of look you dared not question, dare not smart off too, because it was the look of a man that **demanded**, without effort, your respect.

"This isn't the time." Naruto said in an uncharacteristically calm tone while staring at her, before he survyed the area.

"Don't-"

"Tenten." Neji said curtly interrupting her, without raising his voice. "Naruto is correct. We need to find a village and regroup."

"Sakura, you got Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, and when Sakura nodded, moving to scoop up the man he turned back to Tenten "Why don't you help Lee?"

It seemed poised as a question, but there had been a note in that tone. It had been an order. Tenten wanted to rant on Lee's behalf, on her own as well, since it had been their sensei that had died, but Naruto made it clear just from body language that it would be wiser to simply do as he ordered, and with Neji seeming to defer to Naruto now...kneeling she gently urged the boy up, following Sakura silently.

Neji and Sai brought up the rear, carrying Gai's body, draped in an orange jacket.

Tenten cast one last glance over her shoulder, spotting the two Jinchūriki facing off alone in the clearing.

* * *

AN:

Chigatana: Bloody Blade


	11. 328

**Naruto  
**-328-  
By Geor-sama

* * *

Tsunade stared silently out the windows of her office; attention focused on nothing particular. Shizune often chided her, asking how she could spend so much time in the office and never finish a fraction of her paperwork, especially when she wasn't drinking. Tsunade never bothered to explain why to her assistant, but the answer was Tsunade spent most of her time just staring out of the office windows.

Tsunade did this when there was something heavy on her mind it helped clear it of the 'shoulds', 'woulds', and 'coulds'. A mind weighed down and wrapped up in such things could never make a decision. Unfortunately there were times when this act of staring failed to help and this would be one of them, because her mind kept circling around Jiraiya.

It had been two weeks, going on three, since Jiraiya stormed out of her office. They had yet to hear anything from the man, but Tsunade felt no surprise or disappointment at that. Jiraiya had been pissed when he left, mostly with her, but mostly because he was facing another decision he hated but could not alter.

Tsunade wasn't sure how else she could have explained her decision: she had told him they were running out of time. More training would be wasting the time they had left, there were whispers of an insanely powerful enemy in Ame, which might or might not be connected with Akatsuki, waiting to deliver vengeance for the past sins of Konoha. The clock was ticking and if Naruto was not ready Konoha would be lost.

Maybe the world.

Besides Jiraiya had two and half years to train Naruto why would he need more time? Why Senjutsu? Was he trying to achieve the same goals as her, or had he heard the rumors as well? It didn't make sense if he had been trying to achieve the same goal as her then he should have understood the reason for her decision and supported it.

Sighing she closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against the cool pane of glass, wondering.

Jiraiya was an idealist, he saw the world as it should be, how it could be and rarely as it was; he believed that one day true peace would be attained in the world, and he believed this while completely disregarding the hatred and anger that surrounded him. Which explained why she and Jiraiya had broken up during the Great Wars, Tsunade was far too practical to live with such a foolish dream.

She took reality and what happiness she could find in it over such an impossible ideal. Though to be fair, Jiraiya wasn't completely blind to the reality of the world. Unlike Naruto, Jiraiya had accepted that sometimes you couldn't save people. You could try with all of your strength, with all of your resolve, to save them but sometimes they didn't want to be saved.

Sometimes they _**wanted**_ the darkness, the pain, the hate and the vengeance more than they wanted anything else.

"Why senjutsu?" Tsunade whispered, opening her eyes, feeling that something was fluttering just beyond her reach. Damn it, why was this bothering her so much? She'd made the decision and she couldn't go back on it now. Besides, she had to meet with Tenzou soon to discuss his list of sparring partners for Naruto and then she had to figure out what to do about Danzo.

The old man was secure in his cell, silent and still, but Tsunade had a feeling that hadn't removed the danger Danzo posed to the village. Because Konoha was a military dictatorship and Danzo could over throw her and assume power provided he gathered enough Shinobi willing to support him. Unfortunately, Tsunade wasn't sure what to do about the man, executing him might create a martyr for whatever ninja he had under his sway and that would make them impossible to deal with.

Not that it was all bad, without Danzo floating around playing in the shadows; Tsunade had fully reasserted her authority. The Council kept its fingers out of places they didn't belong and the economy was finally stabilizing now that she had cracked down on a lot of questionable 'import/export' deals.

A knock at the door disrupted her thoughts, and with a sigh Tsunade turned as the door opened, allowing the vaguely familiar Chūnin Hijiri Shimon to peek into the room. Seeing her awake, the Chūnin entered, closing the door behind him before crossing the room to stand before her desk.

"I take it you have something to report?" Tsunade asked, taking her seat.

"Yes." Shimon said with a nod, "According to the last report from Teams Gai and Kakashi, they have reached Mori no Kuni and should make contact with Kumo within a few more days."

"I see." Tsunade muttered, mind roaming to Naruto and hoping the mission helped him. That was why she'd agreed to assign it in the first place. "Anything else?"

"A report from the Niju Shotai team lead by Asuma-san."

Tsunade hesitated and then laced her fingers together. "How bad is it?"

"Five teams engaged in pursuit of two Akatsuki agents. There were only two survivors." Shimon said, pausing to collect his thoughts "Both ninja are in critical, but stable, condition. However, they are still unconscious."

"Which two?"

"Yamashiro Aoba and Yamanaka Ino."

Tsunade stared at the Chūnin for a moment, before sighing and closing her eyes. Admittedly, she had known the Niju Shotai would be underpowered against Akatsuki but for five teams…that was eighteen ninja lost and two critically injured. All of whom had been skilled Chūnin at the least; there should have been a higher survival rate.

"Did he offer any insight into which Akatsuki agents they had encountered?"

"No Hokage-sama." Shimon said with a taut voice. "His report was very brief, but he did say that he had never seen this level or type of devastation before. Also, it appears that the ninja were blown apart from the inside. He noted that whatever happened to Akimichi Choji escaped words."

Tsunade opened her eyes, fixing the young man with her most piercing stare. Shimon flinched, but held his ground until Tsunade looked away from him and at the far wall. For Asuma to describe things in such language, the man had seen actual combat in the last war and seen things done to bodies that the current generation would be unable to fathom.

"All remaining Niju Shotai are to join into larger groups. Ten each and the remaining five can head for the border with Mori no Kuni to act as an escort for Teams Gai and Kakashi. I want a messenger bird sent to the Mori no Kuni border patrols, informing them that the mission of the aforementioned teams is hereby cancelled."

"Yes Hokage-sama."

* * *

Fight or Flight.

The basic concept was that when presented with a dangerous situation, people would fight or run like hell. Indeed, most people generally chose to run screaming away from the danger. Choosing fight was, biologically speaking, stupid and insane; species were hard-wired for for survival and reproduction and their instincts told them that.

Uzumaki Naruto, unfortunately, had never been one to do what most would.

His past provided stark examples of his poor survival instincts: a crush on Haruno Sakura and facing off with a ninja nicknamed 'Demon of the Bloody Mist' while a mere Genin. That was not counting when he had fought an unstable ninja who had survived numerous assassination attempts or holding back against his 'brother' after Sasuke had plunged a hand through his body. Therefore, it should come as no surprise when he added his latest example of poor survival instincts.

Facing a female Jōnin who knew more ways to kill than most knew how to swear, alone, so that they could have a conversation. Oh, and she happened to be a host to a demon.

Not that it was his decision; she had called his name and said the dreaded words 'we need to talk'. Of course, any other rational person would have done anything to put the conversation off, or would have at least ensured there were witnesses for when she killed him.

But not Uzumaki Naruto! No, he happily faced his immediate and painful death alone without a safety net.

On the other hand, neither had said a word yet, simply staring at each other. That actually worried Naruto more than if Yugito was shouting or attacking him. Those reactions Naruto could handle considering that's how the other angry females he dealt with in his life acted.

Instead, Yugito stared at him silently, those eyes boring into him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Yugito finally asked in a surprisingly calm tone.

"Tell you what?"

"About being a Jinchūriki."

"I'm not." Naruto said, unable to help his tone sharpening.

"Do you, or do you not have a Bijū sealed inside you?" Yugito asked.

Naruto debated about lying. He could probably talk this around to prove that she had merely reached the wrong conclusion. Then again, this was a Jōnin and someone he considered a friend. Not only would she catch him in his attempt at trying to talk around this, but also Naruto wouldn't feel right about it.

"Yes."

"Which makes you a Jinchūriki."

"No. It doesn't."

"If you're trying to frustrate me into giving up on this conversation, it isn't going to work."

"It's not that. I just refuse to be reduced a sacrifice," Naruto explained, crossing his arms. "That word is dehumanizing, a word that people made up to make themselves feel better about how they treat people like us."

"You're seriously this bothered by a word?" Yugito asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As I said, I refuse to be a sacrifice." Naruto offered with a shrug, expecting her to view it as a necessary word. Even he admitted, logically, that it or something similar had to exist but still, the term 'Jinchūriki' got under his skin.

"Ok. Fine." Yugito said, waving a hand lazily before crossing her arms as well "Now tell me why you didn't tell me."

"You mean besides it being a village secret?" Naruto asked, grinning faintly. He had learned that answer from Sakura back when Tenten had asked something similar after the Suna affair. Yugito's eye twitched. Apparently, she didn't like having such an obvious answer tossed in her face, and if he didn't say something else then Sakura would have to come back with a shovel to bury his corpse. "I just didn't think it was important. Hell, most of the time I don't even think about it."

"I could see how you would think that." Yugito said in a low tone "Considering it has to be the Kyūbi, I suppose it's only natural that you don't have a care in the world."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"The Kyūbi, its strongest Bijū there is. So of course you can be carefree about things."

"Pft, that's stupid." Naruto said, rolling his eyes "I never knew about the giant fur ball until after I was twelve."

"'Furball'?" Yugito echoed blankly before blinking.

"Yeah, fur ball. What you think I'm gonna call the damn thing 'Kyūbi-sama' or something after it nearly destroyed my village? That's about as likely to happen as Ero-sennin not having a single perverted thought for a whole day."

"It's the strongest demon in the world, because of it you don't have to worry about anything and you're calling it a fur ball?"

"First, just because it's the strongest doesn't mean I have to be nice to it." Naruto said, uncrossing his arm to shove the hands in his pockets "Second, I do worry. I worry about my friends, my family, about my promises and all sorts of things. I don't brood or get depressed because of a decision I made while growing up isolated, alone, with a whole village of hateful and cold stares."

"Before or after you were told about the Kyūbi?"

"Before, long before I learned about the fur ball." Naruto said, glancing at the sky "I decided that I wouldn't suffer for no reason, I refused to simply roll over for all that hate. I made them notice me, I forced people to acknowledge me and in the midst of all my pain, I found people that made it go away."

"So it's really that simple huh?" Yugito asked, her tone pensive, staring at him oddly, "You're just carefree because you want to be?"

"Yup." Naruto said with a grin and a nod "I get upset, I get depressed, but I don't let it keep me down."

"...I see." Yugito said, gaze drifting away from him and toward the trees.

"Would it make you kill me painlessly if I said 'sorry'?" Naruto asked earnestly. At least this conversation seemed close to being finished. Naruto honestly wanted to get back to the others, and besides he wasn't suited for heavy discussions like this.

Yugito blinked and shaking her head, uncrossed her arms, prompting him to flinch. "I'm not going to kill you."

"What? You're not?" Naruto asked in surprise before quickly realizing what he was saying "I mean, of course you're not, why would yo-"

"Well, I thought about it. But right now I'm just tired and wondering if you have any other 'shocking' revelations." Yugito said tiredly, rubbing the side of her face.

"Does thinking that you have a great body count?" Naruto asked with a grin, meaning to lighten the mood, but then he what he said sank in. Naturally, Naruto began to panic. "No! I didn't mean - I meant that I wonder if you'd hold it against me! No wait, not that, I didn't mean-"

"I-I think we should go catch up with the others." Yugito offered cutting him off, appearing to blush.

"Right! Yes! Let's go!" Naruto squeaked, hurrying off with Yugito in tow, thankful to still be breathing. If he had said that to Sakura, she would have turned him into a greasy smear.

"By the way," Yugito called from behind him "I think you have a great ass."

Naruto ran face first into a tree.

* * *

Neji mastered his urge to grimace as the small of his back ached, a Hyūga did not show weakness from such a little thing. Especially not when you were faced with strangers in a foreign country. The Innkeeper was prattling on about how he needed a security deposit since they were ninja.

Neji grunted his understanding, wanting nothing more than to get upstairs to the room his team had. Tenten and Lee were too volatile to leave alone for any length of time; with Gai's death, Tenten's anger had blossomed and Lee had become even more emotional. Neji needed to be up there, dealing with those two, trying to keep this mission on task.

"How much, exactly, is the deposit?" Neji asked, keeping his voice even, staring at the beady eyed and balding man.

"One hundred and fifty ryo."

Neji arched an eyebrow, and the Innkeeper's head lowered slightly, and his weight shifted slowly to the side. The lowered head signified he was trying to hide something and the slow shift of weight indicated he was uncomfortable. Neji clasped his hands behind his back, prompting the man to blink rapidly before glancing to the left; the rapid blinking was a sign of unease while the glance to the side signaled a guilty feeling.

Considering the body language, Neji decided that the man was a poor liar, and greedy considering the lie. Neji had encountered 'security deposits' before and he could appreciate the urge to make a little extra, but what this man had asked for was seventy-five ryo higher than normal. The man coughed and brushed his thin hair back, before changing the price.

Neji didn't comment on the change of price. Instead he handed over the smaller deposit, annoyed with having to squabble over money. Hyūga did not normally bicker over such things, but then again they rarely had people try to extort them. Still, having Konoha ninja known as stingy would be better than having them known as gullible.

"Thank you sir. I hope the rooms are to your-"

"Good evening," Neji said curtly, interrupting the man before walking past the man and up the stairs. A maid fluttered by, offering a bright smile and Neji smiled back mechanically. He had more things on his mind than pretty maids, for example, the Kumo Jōnin leaning against the railing near the stairs, watching him like an idle cat.

"Yugito-san." Neji said, reaching the landing.

"Neji-san." Yugito said, turning her head to glance at him, "Those two aren't going to be able to finish this mission."

"Konoha Shinobi are more resilient than you think." Neji countered passively, knowing which two she meant. "I am touched with your concern for them however."

"I'm sure." Yugito said, her gaze cool "So what now? You've lost a man, another is unconscious, two of your ninja are emotionally compromised-"

"There is still myself, Sai, Haruno and Naruto." Neji offered blandly, noting the flicker of uncertainty in her eyes at Naruto's name. Interesting. "The four of us should be more than adequate to complete this mission."

"Haruno's a medic, 'Sai' is exhausted, and Uzumaki doesn't have full use of his arm."

"And me? I'm not emotionally compromised or wounded?" Neji asked, almost amused at her use of Naruto's family name.

"You're a Hyūga." Yugito offered, standing up while smirking at him, "Everyone knows that Hyūga don't have emotions, and feel no pain."

Neji bristled subtly at the jab, a warning sign that his control was slipping. He had heard that sort of thing before: it was only natural considering the nature of the Hyūga clan. The Hyūga were experts at reading body language and predicting actions with such accuracy that it seemed supernatural so it was only natural that they would intentionally develop an unreadable façade.

"Have a good evening Nii-san, we will set out in the morning." Neji offered, turning away from the Kunoichi. He walked past the room the three males of Team Seven would be sharing, two of whom were currently out cold, then past the room Yugito and Sakura would be sharing and entered the last door on the left.

Neji paused just inside, taking in the room and his team mates with a single sweep. Lee was sleeping, covers tugged up over his shoulders and Tenten sat on the edge of the bed, dragging a kunai slowly along the sharpening stone. Redundant, considering all the weapons Tenten owned held the keenest edges he had seen.

"Neji," Tenten said softly, looking up as she registered his presence. Stepping into the room completely and shutting the door, he nodded returning the greeting. "Done following Naruto's orders?"

"Pettiness does not suit you." Neji said, crossing to the desk before taking a seat in the chair "How has Lee been taking this?"

"Badly. Which doesn't surprise me, Gai-sensei was the closest thing Lee had to a father." Tenten said, turning back to sharpening her kunai "I tried to comfort him, but I just…Gai was important to me too, and I know I'm not missing him half as much as Lee, but how can I do anything when…it's just…"

"The important thing is that you try." Neji said firmly, watching the girl; her attention focused on the task of sharpening her kunai, but he could see the faint shaking of her shoulders. Trying to keep the emotions from crushing her, trying to be a Kunoichi completely and master her emotions. "There is no shame in mourning. Gai-sensei was very important to each of us, we all feel his loss acutely."

"I know but it's just," Tenten muttered before looking up, her eyes earnest and seeking an answer from him "I don't know what to do."

"Keep moving." Neji offered, knowing that she would balk at that suggestion. He could see the words forming on her lips already so he cut her off before she could voice them, "I'm not being callous Tenten. I merely tell you the best way to manage the loss."

"I wasn't going to say 'callous'," Tenten said with a snort "I was going to ask what you meant."

"Ah," Neji managed, realizing how tired and hurt he was to misread such a thing. Shrugging his shoulders slightly he sighed, closing his eyes "I meant that we must keep moving, as long as you are moving you can stay alive. As an example, we need to finish this mission-"

"The mission that got Sensei killed."

"The mission that Gai-sensei gave his life to protect." Neji corrected without opening his eyes "Remember, a mission must be completed, even at the cost of our lives."

"You are really trying to keep that emotionless Hyūga image up aren't you?" Tenten sniped.

Neji sighed, opening his eyes to stare at her. He had wanted to finish this mission with both Tenten and Lee since it would be helpful to them, but Tenten was not in the best frame of mind. Lee would force his way through the mission, but he would not be a hundred percent and with potentially more intense battles looming that could be deadly.

"In the morning, you and Lee should head back to Konoha; Gai-sensei's body should be laid to rest as soon as possible." Neji said at last, noting her surprise "Sai and Kakashi-sensei will most likely remain here to recover, and then head back as well. Haruno, Naruto and I can complete the mission."

"Just the three of you?"

"Haruno is an excellent medic, while both I and Naruto are more than capable at handling combat."

"Are you serious?" Tenten asked, gesturing with her kunai "These are the ninja responsible for Gai's death."

"That was an Akatsuki agent." Neji corrected, feeling more certain than ever that she needed to leave the mission. He had experience with what she was feeling; Neji had blamed the Main Family for his father's death far too long. It had been his father's choice to die, to give his life for his brother so that in duty, he had found freedom.

Tenten needed to discover that fact as well, that Gai had given his life not only in the duty of being a Shinobi, but to protect them from the harm that would come from his failure. If she remained on this mission however, her anger and resentment would only grow, so he would send her and Lee off, and perhaps that would help her find the perspective needed. If not Neji could always steal a page from Naruto's book and beat her into waking up and realizing the truth of the matter.

"Neji, are you forgetting where this mission is going?"

"I am aware." Neji said, standing slowly, wondering if he could crash with Naruto and the others. He needed rest, and Tenten was not going to let up anytime soon about this "Nonetheless, I am also aware of my obligation to Konoha and I will see this mission completed."

* * *

As the apprentice to the Hokage, Sakura had examined many injuries and treated them. However, it was only in the last few months that Tsunade had allowed her to examine and treat injuries caused by S-Rank Ninjutsu. The damage from those were the worst of injures, hence why they were ranked 'S' which stood for 'Suicidal' and required expert skill in treatment which was why Sakura was only now being allowed to deal with them.

Still, Sakura had never seen or heard of this level of damage before and she doubted her Sensei had either. Naruto was seated before her, jacket and shirt lying to the side, while Sakura scanned the arm he had approached her about. Apparently, while he had full use of it, there seemed to be a lingering pain and the Kyūbi seemed to be taking its time with the healing.

Now that Sakura saw the damage however, she wondered if the Kyūbi wasn't so much being vindictive as it was powerless to work any faster. As Naruto had explained the Rasen Shuriken, it used countless small blades of wind and when it hit the enemy there was no surviving it. The actual results were far worse than he could have guessed, the miniscule blades of the Rasen Shuriken sliced through the body and into the cells severing even the chakra circulatory channels, thus it resembled a fast acting poison more than an outright attack.

If the secondary damage she saw in Naruto's arm was any indication, this attack was the strongest S-rank Ninjutsu she had ever heard of.

"So?"

"Your Rasen Shuriken is a very nasty attack," Sakura said, pulling her hands away. "Those blades cut through a body and into its very cells, destroying them and the chakra pathways."

"Ooook" Naruto said glancing over his shoulder at her, eyebrow rising. "What are cells?"

"The fundamental building blocks of our bodies." Sakura explained, moving to the desk for a glass of water. "Your Ninjutsu basically attacks the foundations of the body."

"Oh." Naruto managed, the rustling of clothes telling her he was putting his shirt back on. "So, why's the fur ball taking its time?"

"Well at first it tried to heal you like normal, which is probably why you can still use your arm. Only, without chakra pathways it wasn't accurate enough to sustain extensive repairs. So instead, it's rebuilding the cells one at a time."

"Isn't that what it does?"

"Healing and rebuilding are two entirely different processes Naruto. When our bodies heal, it's essentially filling the 'gaps' left behind by a wound, making them imperfect copies of the original." Sakura explained, taking a sip of her water before glancing out the window "Rebuilding on the other hand, well, I'm not sure how the process works, but basically the Kyūbi is discarding ruined cells and building entirely new ones to replace them."

"Wow," Naruto said, turning in the chair to look at her. "So how's Kakashi-sensei?"

"Unconscious, but stable." Sakura said, turning her attention back to Naruto. "His Sharingan forced him to the edge of Chakra exhaustion, even worse than when he fought that Deidara."

"Oh."

After that, the conversation fell into a lull. Sakura figured it was because this was the first time either of them had lost a person they knew. Gai hadn't been a close friend, but a sort of crazy uncle. Sakura wondered why she didn't feel worse; all she felt was a hint of melancholy. Maybe she felt what she was supposed to feel, and she just thought she should feel worse.

Sakura thought about asking Naruto, seeing how he felt, but her friend had enough on his mind without forcing that conversation. In her experience, men had an aversion to discussing their feelings, and she doubted Naruto would be different.

"Hey Sakura-chan," Naruto said startling her "I talked with Yugito you know..."

"Oh, yeah, how'd that go?" Sakura asked, remembering her curiosity about their conversation "I mean she was angry the last time I saw her."

"She was." Naruto admitted, frowning as he twisted his jacket in his hands "but I mean she didn't make any sense. Well, I mean, she wanted to know why I never told her about the fur ball but once I told she just sorta let the subject drop. I mean, I know she's still angry but she won't talk about why and it's sorta-"

"Wait, Naruto." Sakura said, interrupting him while staring with wide eyes. "You realize that she's still angry?"

"Well yeah." Naruto admitted scowling at her "I know you think I'm stupid, but I'm not _that_ stupid."

"It's not that I think you're stupid, it's just you normally don't realize that sort of stuff." Sakura explained with a shrug "that's why it always stands out when you do."

"Oh." Naruto said, standing up, pulling his jacket on "So, what do I do?"

"Relax, rest, and pray that when she cools off she doesn't do something drastic."

* * *

Naruto woke with a small start, a testimony to his training, but it was still too late. A weight landed on him, the cold sharp edge of a kunai against the side of his jugular. The slightest move on his part could result in a painful and bloody death. He wasn't sure that the Kyūbi could keep him alive if that should happen.

Staring up he found the owner of the kunai, one Nii Yugito, staring down at him. Shadowed as the room was, he could see her eyes and there was something in them that made him more curious than scared. Yugito grinned ferally and Naruto's eyes widened as she grabbed his hair with her free hand and pulled his head up to capture his lips in an impassioned kiss.

He wasn't sure how to react to this since on one hand he still had a kunai pressed against his throat, but on the other he had a hot girl not only straddling his waist -her hips were starting to move- but giving him a very serious kiss. It was for this very sort of situation that nature had given males hormones: Naruto's mouth worked to match her kiss, his tongue struggling with hers, while he reached up to grab her hand and move the kunai from his throat.

Yugito stopped the kunai from moving too far, but didn't try to put it back to his throat. Naruto didn't care all that mattered was the hot girl he was currently making out with. Breaking the kiss, leaving Yugito panting, Naruto bent his left leg and then drove his hips up while twisting toward his right shoulder.

The room whirled and their positions changed allowing Naruto to pin Yugito beneath him. To be out done though, Yugito's legs wrapped around his waist in the same instant, stopping any attempt at escape. Chest heaving Naruto stared down at her, ears filled with their heavy breathing and an animalistic sense of anticipation swelling up through him.

_Her legs flexed against his waist..._

Naruto's head dipped, his mouth finding the side of her throat, kissing and biting. Yugito groaned, her free hand grasping hair and shoving his head down, so that his lips met her collarbone.

Using the kunai to slice her shirt open, exposing her breasts to his eager mouth.

_...Moaning, panting, nipping and suckling..._

Another shift and another, pants and underwear discarded.

Naruto was poised and panting, flushed, staring at her equally flushed face, seeking permission. Yugito wrapped her arms around his shoulders and using her legs, urged him forward and in.

_...Powerful thrusts, deep grunts, the creaking bed..._

A loud moan and groan, fingers digging into his shoulders, hoarsely whispered encouragements, the constant flexing of her legs, urging and pulling.

_His guttural growl of accomplishment and her hissed delight._

Silence.

* * *

AN:

So, I'm back with an update. Took a while huh, anyway, I know I could have went more graphic but I wanted to try something else. Also, I will neither confirm nor deny that the above scene did or did not actually happen.

Edit 5/19: I re uploaded the chapter in docx because ff . net was dropping " and ' from the htm version. Also of note, I hate docx because I have to fight with it once I upload a chapter.


	12. 329

**Naruto**  
-329-  
By Geor-sama

* * *

The Yondaime Raikage was a large man, brutal to his enemies while surprisingly gentle to comrades. He was also a powerful man, perhaps the most powerful non-Jinchūriki alive, though the other Kages might debate that. The Raikage was also compassionate, though awkward in how he displayed it, so while he knew his decision to cast his niece Yugito out would get a few people riled up he had done so.

It had been the best thing for her, if they had kept the young woman then he would have been pressured to extract the Bijū and seal it in a new host. Yugito right now was viewed as a broken weapon and it was better to forge a new one. In Konoha however, she would be able to live out her life and he could always reclaim the Bijū later, it wasn't like Konoha would stop him from reclaiming his villages property.

Signing the last sheet of paperwork on his desk, the Raikage sighed before stretching. Now that _that_ was out of the way, he could get to the highlight of his day, lifting weights. Eying the said barbell resting on the reinforced floor, he smirked as he stood only to freeze as the door to his office opened and his personal assistant entered. He opened his mouth to snap at her, he was done for the day damn it, but she beat him to the punch.

"Raikage-sama, we have a situation."

"Huh, well whatever it is you take care of it!" The Raikage grumbled, turning away and picking up his dumbbell.

"Sir, there are three Konoha ninja here to see you." she said in the calm fashion she had "They were also accompanied by Nii Yugito."

"What?" He asked, the dumbbell slipping out of his hand and crashing back to the floor.

"They are requesting an aud-" Yasu started before a loud voice drifted through the doorway, cutting her off.

"Can we see this bastard already?"

"As I said," Yasu continued calmly, as if she hadn't been interrupted "they are requesting an audience with you."

"Tell them I don't have time or something," the Raikage said, glowering "and that they need to get that missing-ninja out of here before our ANBU show up."

"Yes sir." Yasu said, bowing politely before she exited the office, closing the door behind her.

Retrieving his weights the Raikage began doing curls, satisfied that the Konoha ninja were taken care of. Though he did have to wonder how they had managed to get not only into the country and all the way to his office without prior warning. By all rights, any foreign ninja should have been detected and dealt with long before now, especially after the counter-measures Kumo had taken in the wake of those Akatsuki bastards.

A formal letter to the Hokage could be in order, not that he could force them to reveal how the ninja had done it, but Konoha was on more friendly terms with them than other villages. So the Hokage might be willing to reveal the information, if for no other reason than to gloat. Nodding slightly, the Raikage turned his attention back to his weights, at least until a commotion outside his office door caught his attention.

"Yasu-" the Raikage started until the door was blown off its hinges and sent spiraling through the air and out the window of the office. Blinking, he turned back to the doorframe where he found an irate looking spiky blond Konoha ninja standing glaring at him. A second later the Raikage was struck by a sense of familiarity when he spotted a Hyūga man calmly apologizing to an equally calm Yasu, while a resigned looking kunoichi with pink hair began berating the unapologetic blond man about lack of respect.

Impressed since most ninja were far too sane and respectful to go around blowing the doors off a Kage's office, he decided to humor the young man. "I take it you have something to say?"

"Oi, are you Raikage?" The young man asked, utterly disregarding the question, which made the pink hair girl pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Last time I checked." The Raikage answered, scowling "Who are you?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage." Was the instant, unwavering reply. "And you're a jerk!"

"Ok." The Raikage said and if nothing else the Raikage respected the confidence the young man was displaying. "So what do you want?"

"From you a jerk like you? Not a damn thing." Naruto snapped, entering the office and revealing an unsure Yugito following in his wake. The Hyūga, Yasu and the other Kunoichi remained at the doorway. "But Yugito-chan wants to talk with you."

"Huh, you blew the door to my office out the window because she wants to talk to me?" The Raikage asked, respect for the blond going up another notch. Glancing at Yugito, he frowned then turned his attention to Yasu "Get someone up here to replace the door and window. I should be finished talking with my guest by the time they get here."

"Right away." Yasu said, bowing before she set off to see to her task, redirecting a newly arrived and bewildered Darui back the way he came as she did.

Satisfied, he turned back to Yugito, arching an eyebrow. "Well?"

"I'll be fine Naruto." Yugito offered, not turning to look at him.

"Come on Naruto, this is between them." The pink haired girl added, earning her a quick glance from the blond before he turned back to Yugito. "Naruto."

"I know Sakura-chan." Naruto muttered after a long moment, before addressing Yugito. "We'll just be outside."

"In the outer office." Sakura amended quickly, with an apologetic glance at the Raikage.

Naruto grunted, then when Yugito nodded faintly turned following the others out of the office, past the desk of Yasu and then into the outer office. With them gone, it left the Raikage completely alone with his niece and former Kumo Jōnin. Studying her as she stood there, tall and proud, he saw a flash of her mother his half-sister. Mentally he dismissed such sentimentally, and instead focused on the situation at hand namely waiting for her to speak.

"I'm sorry about Naruto-kun," Yugito offered with a half-smile "he can get a little impatient."

"He's a cocky one." Raikage agreed, keeping his face carefully neutral. "I take it that 'Hokage' proclamation isn't an empty boast?"

"He has the power for it, but I think there might be social problems." Yugito said, before changing the subject abruptly "Why did you make me a missing-nin?"

"Technically I exiled you," Raikage said "provided you stay out of Kumo you won't have to deal with being 'neutralized'."

"Don't give me that, it's the same difference!" Yugito snapped, eyes flashing purple "I did everything for this village. I pushed myself to the breaking point to master my Bijū for you. All the sweat, tears and blood I've shed over the years to protect this village, and you just casually tossed me aside!"

"Because I was left with no other choice." Raikage offered shrugging his shoulders, unaffected by her increasing anger "Above all other principals that make up a ninja, is the fact that we are weapons for this village. When those Akatsuki agents came, you're team gave their lives for you and you failed."

"So I'm a defective weapon?" Yugito echoed darkly, the air of the office becoming thick with her anger "Really? Because the last time I checked _**defective weapons**_ like Jinchūriki were killed and the Bijū transplanted to a new host. Not exiled and allowed to live in another Hidden Village."

"I chose exile because of your past service and because you're my niece. I'm not a monster Nii," Raikage explained, forcing his own temper to remain in check and not provoke her. "I had to choose either death or exile, so I chose exile in the only village that would offer you asylum."

"Oh yes, that makes you anything but a monster!" Yugito snapped in furious sarcasm, before yanking her forehead protector off and hurling it to the floor "There now it's official, I'm a missing-nin. Tell Kirābī I said goodbye."

"Is that everything you needed to say?" The Raikage asked, keeping his tone carefully disinterested. She had every right to be furious, but he would not give her the satisfaction of provoking him or a reason for the village ANBU to get involved. If she lost control and went into her two-tailed state she would cause severe damage to the village and give him no other recourse but to hunt her down, this way she could still leave the village with her new comrade's peacefully.

Yugito reeled in her temper, and with one last dark glare stormed out of the office her back straight and chin held high.

* * *

_Akatsuki Base..._

Madara whistled a jaunty tune, but this was mostly out of habit from playing the role of the hapless 'Tobi' for so long. Mentally he was busy pondering how badly things had went to throw his plans into such turmoil: They had nearly lost the Sanbi, by the time he and Deidara turned up he had reached the Akatsuki base hidden in the arid mountain range of Tea Country the wild Bijū had escaped to a nearby lake.

The struggle to recapture it had proved daunting, the transporting it back to the base even more so.

Thankfully now that the Sanbi was secured once more, with Deidara playing watchdog on it, Madara had the chance to slip out under the pretense of planting traps to secure the area. This meant he was finally free to reach out with his Sharingan, locate the familiar chakra signatures of his co-founders and with a surge of his chakra disappeared into the warp reappearing instantly within a hidden room within the Tower of Pain.

The room was set up in a style reminiscent of a typical living room with chairs, tables and lamps. The far wall of the brick chamber was a glassless window that offered a sweeping vista of the village of Ame. Yet what caught his attention was Konan sitting on the couch speaking with the main avatar of Pain: the one that had once been her childhood friend Yahiko.

Madara had lived a long time and he had seen things that defied all logic, so normally things that would disturb others didn't even get a raised eyebrow. But the Konan-Yahiko-Nagato triangle was something that disturbed him greatly, the woman cared for her friend Nagato yet she seemed fixated on the body of Yahiko. Madara knew from Zetsu, who was equally disturbed, that Konan at times shared a bed with the animated corpse.

The Pain avatar noticed him first and smoothly stood from the couch, abruptly cutting the conversation off. Konan glanced at him and then stood as well, moving across the floor before coming to a stop so that the three of them formed a triangle. It was the typical positions they adopted when meeting face to face in private, not that it was strictly needed but it was simply the way their meetings had had developed.

"Shouldn't you be in Tea Country helping Deidara?" Konan asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We captured the Sanbi," Madara answered, not hiding his annoyance "but it was a near thing. 'Sempai' gave me the job to place some 'artistic' traps around the base, while he keeps the Sanbi docile. I figured we should discuss what to do concerning the Nibi."

"We have a more difficult problem to address first," Pain said from his spot near the wall. "Hidan and Kakuzu encountered opponents they weren't ready for."

"Oh?"

"Zetsu located them in Mori no Kuni during their respective battles against the Kyūbi Jinchūriki and other Konoha teams. Kakuzu fell to the Mangekyō Sharingan of Hatake Kakashi, while Hidan fell to an unknown attack from the Kyūbi Jinchūriki."

"Well, you did warn them." Madara commented blandly, downplaying his surprise at the news of those two actually being killed. He was also curious about this 'unknown' attack that Zetsu mentioned, but he hid that as well and instead moved to the window to stare out at the city of Ame with its constant drizzle. "Still, their stupidity is going to prove annoying on several fronts. Not only will the extraction and sealing take longer, but the Nibi isn't going to be lightly guarded anymore."

"We can't over look the Kyūbi Jinchūriki now being involved in anything we attempt concerning her." Pain said, his voice betraying the tiniest hint of interest.

"He'll prove especially troublesome if what Zetsu has told us is true." Konan added "Look at how he reacted to our capture of the Ichibi Jinchūriki and from what Zetsu told us there are hints of a deeper relationship between the Kyūbi and Nibi Jinchūriki."

"That's not going to be the problem," Madara said, glancing at her "When the time is right, my 'pet' will lure her to me and I can subdue her easily."

"It is interesting," Pain mused glancing at Konan "the remaining Jinchūriki seem different from the earlier ones. The Ichibi was the Kazekage, the Nibi had teammates willing to fight to the death to protect her, the Hachibi is beloved by the people of Kumo and the Kyūbi host is becoming a beacon to the people of Konoha."

"The Nibi and Hachibi Jinchūriki are viewed well because they are highly valued weapons." Madara countered off-handily, before fixing his gaze on the Pain Avatar "The Kyūbi Jinchūriki is the only one that is truly different. The boy has inherited the true Will of Fire. He is the spiritual successor to Senju Hashirama, without him the Ichibi would have been no different than the previous Jinchūriki and there would be no Suna/Konoha alliance to deal with."

"Possibly." Konan agreed before changing the subject back to the Jinchūriki "After sealing the Sanbi, how long until you can capture the Nibi and we can seal it?"

"It's going to be a bit before my plan can go into play," Madara explained, glancing at the two "Until then we can extract and seal the Yonbi, once Kisame manages to capture the Jinchūriki. We'll just have to make sure that the next Bijū sealed after it is the Nibi."

"Once we have the Nibi sealed, who do we send after the Hachibi?" Konan asked, her frown deepening "Pain's target is the Kyūbi, and you can't actually fight a Bijū in your current condition."

"Itachi and Kisame of course," Madara answered shrugging "unless Itachi goes completely blind, then Kisame and Deidara."

"So you don't think Sasuke is going to win their eventual confrontation." Pain said, closing his eyes.

"It's not likely," Madara admitted, privately disappointed. "I had such high hopes for him, his chakra mirrors my own and he is a genius, but he lacks the Mangekyō Sharingan and without it, no matter how deeply Sasuke hates he'll be unable to conquer Itachi."

"Very well." Pain said, opening his eyes once more adding "We have a visitor."

"Oh, oh," Madara responded, curious as to who it could be. But he needed to get back to the Tea Country base, so he'd have to leave this to Pain and Konan. "I need to get back to the base. Try not to lose."

"As if that is needed to be said," Konan interjected, her tone sharp "Pain is undefeated and a living god."

"Of course." Madara allowed, keeping his tone neutral. With a causal wave at the two other Akatsuki members, he disappeared into his warp world. He reappeared just as Deidara turned the corner and with an exaggerated flaining of his arms Madara ran straight into the other man. "Deidara, thank goodness, there was a bear and it roared at me!"

"A bear." Deidara repeated, then heaving a sigh pried himself free "Sometimes I think you just do this to annoy me."

"Noooo," Tobi said, sounding overly affronted. "Deidara-sempai, I would never do that!"

"Tobi," Deidara growled warningly, which went unheeded by a now rambling Tobi, prompting the former Iwa ninja to start flinging explosives at the masked man.


	13. 330

**Naruto**  
_-330-_  
By Geor-sama

* * *

Nii Yugito shifted self-consciously under the rather intense gaze of the Hokage, who at that particular moment had to be the most intimidating person she had ever encountered. It did not help that the Hokage simply sat there, fingers laced together studying her the way a tiger might a mouse. Silently Yugito really wished that the woman would say or do *something*, because this whole situation was beginning to creep her out.

They had returned to Konoha two days ago, under escort by something called the Nijū Shōtai, and no sooner had they returned than had Sakura had dragged Naruto off to the hospital for another exam of his arm and Yugito had been isolated to a one-room apartment under ANBU guard. To make things even more nerve-wracking, she had been restricted to her apartment until an hour ago when the ANBU guard escorted her to see the Hokage.

Alone.

"Excuse me Hokage-sama." Yugito said, trying to break the foreboding silence that pervaded the office. Seeing the woman arch an eyebrow, Yugito continued, trying to break the tension with a safe topic. "How is Naruto-kun? I know Sakura-san took him to the hospital to check up on his arm..."

"He's fine. The runt should have been released from the hospital earlier today." The Hokage said with a dismissive snort. "The little idiot finally created an S-rank technique and at only 16. That's three years younger than when the baka I call a teammate did it."

"He did what?" Yugito asked, eyes widening in surprise. In some ways, it was expected that a ninja like Naruto would know S-rank techniques, but for him to actively create one was impressive...and somewhat unnerving.

"I believe he's calling it 'Rasen Shuriken'." The Hokage elaborated with a half-hearted shrug. "You can ask him about the little details when you see him again, don't worry."

"Oh." Yugito said as the conversation feel into another lull.

"So, I'm sure you're wondering why I've had you in isolation and why I wanted to see you." The Hokage said after a few moments of silence.

"Yes, I was. I mean, you invited me to join Konoha didn't you? Naruto-kun gave me the forehead protector and I accepted." Yugito said, aware that the situation had not been quite that straight forward, but the point still stood.

"All true." The Hokage answered with a nod. "But there are protocols, the same as in Kumo I'm sure. You're an exile from Kumo, so you don't have to deal with all the hassles that a normal missing-nin would when joining our forces. But there are complications, because you _are_ the niece of the current Raikage and a Jinchūriki. Not to mention the fact that you didn't leave the Kumo of your own free will."

"But I did, I mean, after I confronted my uncle." Yugito corrected and then at the woman's narrowed expression, said slowly "I didn't?"

"No. You didn't." The Hokage confirmed equally slowly. "Because as an exile it amounts to you experiencing a great deal of scrutiny, but allows for you to avoid dealing with the ANBU Torture and Interrogation evaluations that _**all **_missing ninja have to when seeking to enter our forces."

"Oh." Yugito breathed in sudden understanding.

"Now as I was saying. Since you were _exiled_ from Kumo you'll be facing a lot of scrutiny, as such you are under observation for at least thirty days – seven of which you've already fulfilled. Now, if you're proven to be no immediate threat to Konoha you will be placed on probationary status and assigned to a suitable team."

"And how long will that last?" Yugito asked.

"A minimum of sixty days, and if you continue to show no sign of being a threat to Konoha the probation will be lifted and you'll be welcomed as a fully recognized Jōnin of Konoha."

"That's not so bad," Yugito muttered, not entirely happy with it but considering her only comrades outside of Kumo were all in Konoha she could deal with it. "Anything else Hokage-sama?"

"As part of the observational phase you are required to undergo both a physical and a psychological exam." The Hokage said, leaning back in her chair. "We've completed the psychological exam, so all that leaves is the-"

"Wait," Yugito interrupted, blinking. "We did? When..."

"Why do you think I had you come to this meeting alone, under escort of **two** ANBU?" The Hokage asked in amusement. "I intentionally created a tense environment for you, to see how you would react. Admittedly it wasn't quite as through as say what Ibiki would have performed, but I already had a good idea of what type of person you were from the mission report."

"Uh...ok?" Yugito asked, unsure how to feel about all of that.

"Now, as for your physical...I'll have Shizune oversee that. However, considering your status as a Jinchūriki we'll need to examine and record your seal." That said, the Hokage slide a list of names across the desk to her. "Now, I can expect that it's intensely personal situation so I'll allow you to select your examiner in that regard."

"Naruto-kun." Yugito said, not even bothering to glance at the list. Why would she need to, the only person she would feel comfortable about letting poking around at the seal containing Matatabi would ne Naruto and since it was her decision...still it did make her wonder at the intense look the Hokage was now giving her. "Er...no, offense, but he's the only one I'd feel comfortable messing around with that."

"I see." The Hokage muttered. "I'll inform the loudmouth then."

A beat of silence.

"Uhm...anything else?"

"Nothing immediate, I'll have an ANBU escort you to the hospital for your physical. After that they'll take you back to your temporary housing and Naruto will be around to deal with the seal later." Tsunade said with a casual wave of her hand before adding absently "I guess I need to say this officially. Nii Yugito, welcome to Konoha."

"Ah, thanks." Yugito said, offering a polite bow, startled at the relief and pride swelling within her, the last time she could remember feeling like this was when she had graduated from the Academy and her uncles' welcomed her into the world of Shinobi. It was s fight to keep the smile from growing any wider, it was entirely possible that if Naruto had been present she would have kissed him – and that would have been dangerous for her health considering the Hokage and Sakura.

"Oh. Before you leave Yugito-san, I have to ask." Tsunade said, sounding genuinely curious. "How exactly did you and the others get into Kumo without being detected?"

"I'm not sure you'd believe me. I'm not sure **I** believe it and I was there." Yugito said shaking her head in disbelief, just remembering the situation.

"If Naruto is involved I will believe just about anything." Tsunade countered in obvious fondness.

"Well, to be honest, we just walked through the front gate." Yugito answered and seeing the Hokage's incredulous look, she chuckled nervously. "I told them that after the Akatsuki attack, not only would the normal routes a Hidden Village have for foreign shinobi be locked down but so would any of the unofficial paths that Kumo ninja took as well."

"So, naturally Naruto suggested walking through the front door?"

All Yugito could do was nod.

There was a prolonged moment of utter silence, and then Tsunade spent the next twenty minutes laughing hysterically.

* * *

Hoshigaki Kisame had more chakra than almost any living being and most often compared to a Bijū in terms of his chakra capacity and stamina. Indeed, one of his most infamous battles had occurred while he still operated as one of the Seven Swordsman's of Kiri: It had lasted for three days and consisted of nothing else but straight up combat, culminating with the decimation of the minor shinobi village of Yumegakure.

Therefore, when the leader informed them that with the loss of the Zombie Twins Kisame need to pick up the slack he was not surprised. Though the only reason he had not argued the point was the fact that The Leader had proven his ability to kick anyone's ass without even being the same room with them. It was more than a little unnerving and this was coming from a man that served as a boogeyman for Kiri ninja.

Still, Kisame also was not thrilled with situation especially since Tobi (Sasori's replacement) had a smaller chakra capacity than most, which meant that Kisame was already giving extra chakra. Now he would be doing that on top of covering the chakra loss of Hidan (Orochimaru's replacement), and Kakuzu! Gritting his teeth, the large missing-nin wondered if it would really hurt the others to pitch in with a bit more chakra - especially since Kisame still had his own Jinchūriki to capture and the older man was proving annoying.

"It is complete." The Leader announced abruptly and a second later the _'F__ū__injutsu: Genry__ū__ Ky__ū__f__ū__jin'_ faded away, leaving Kisame temporarily light headed.

"Finally!" Tobi chirped happily. "It took reaaaally long..."

"Well maybe," Kisame growled dangerously at the masked buffoon "If you gave more chakra, we could have finished sooner."

"Wha~?!" Tobi exclaimed, hands spreading wide in disbelief. "But I gave a lot of charka...I think you held back! Yep, I definitely felt you holding back just now!"

"Why you-" Kisame snarled reaching for Samehada, when a hand latched onto his wrist with an iron grip. "Itachi?"

"Not now." Itachi intoned calmly, before releasing Kisame's wrist. "Samehada would drain the rest of your chakra at the moment. Besides, we are the only two physically present at this base."

"Fine." Kisame growled, shooting the annoying, and currently incorporeal, brat a deadly glare.

"Tobi, you shouldn't provoke your comrades." The Leader chided mildly, before turning serious. "With the Sanbi finally sealed, we need to focus on more pressing business. The loss of Kakuzu and Hidan has created a serious threat to our plans, it now takes far too long to seal a Bijū giving the villages a far greater chance of discovering our true intentions."

"Why not replace them?" Tobi asked cheerfully.

"Sh, I'm sure Leader-sama already has replacements in mind, yeah." Deidara interjected, finally breaking his almost uncharacteristic silence.

"We are prepared for any eventuality," Konan announced gesturing at the half-plant shinobi Zetsu. "There are four possible candidates. Zetsu-san shall provide you with the details soon."

"One is an old comrade of yours," The Leader said, his gaze turning to Kisame. "Kurosuki Raiga."

"Raiga?" Kisame asked in open wonder before laughing uproariously. "Oh man, I haven't thought about that man in years."

"Hm, he was a member of the Seven Swordsmen, yeah?" Deidara asked, sounding interested.

"He took his swords from Ringo Ameyuri after she died from a disease, so he could technically call himself a member." Kisame said, shaking his head. "But to the rest of us, he was a joke. You don't become a member of the Seven Swordsmen just because you have the sword. You have to pry the blade from your predecessors' cold, dead hands."

"Was he skilled?" Itachi asked.

"Well, he's managed to survive this long and he did cut down the only challenger he ever had before defecting." Kisame mused, before offering a dismissive shrug. "Still, I didn't expect our paths would cross again. Why did you bring him up?"

"In this case you know him personal, so you could help inform the decision." The Leader answered. "But dismiss it from your mind Kisame, focus on your task and remember to take your time capturing the Yonbi, until we've solved this problem we can't risk the delay extracting it from the host would present."

"Gotcha'." Kisame said, smile starting to grow "Anything else we might need to do?"

"We have several contracts that need to be seen too." The Leader said, before turning his attention to Deidara and Tobi "You have your orders. Dismissed."

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto had been freed from the hospital for a little over six hours, and had spent his ensuing freedom visiting friends and checking up on Lee and Tenten. Admittedly it had been awkward, especially with Tenten, but Naruto counted them as friends and Gai had been extremely weird, but awesome nonetheless. At least he had the common sense not to wait until the funeral, because that would have just made things worse between all of them - despite what Kakashi had suggested.

Shaking his morose thoughts off, he entered his apartment building and tromped his way slowly up the flights of stairs, dreading the empty apartment waiting for him. Idly he mused on changing course and tracking Yugito down, but decided to put that off until tomorrow - especially since he had been forbidden to train or to take any missions until further notice. Though he was not entirely sure how things would play out when he did locate her, there was **something **between them he knew but considering his luck with women he was not eager to face it.

Opening the door to his modest apartment, Naruto shrugged off his battered jacket and kicked off his sandals, only to freeze as he registered someone waiting inside. He was not sure how he knew they were there, just that they were and that they were not hostile. Still, the list of people that would visit him was short - quietly closing the door behind him, Naruto walked into the tiny space that served as his living room to find a familiar white-haired man lounging on his couch absently twirling a scroll along his fingers.

As if registering Naruto's presence Jiraiya titled his head back, grinning. "Was expecting you sooner Gaki."

"Ero-Sennin? I thought you were-" Naruto started to say, and then stopped, squinting at his guest suspiciously. "Waaaaaaaaaait... you're a Kage Bunshin?"

"You're definitely improving, but then again, considering my Supremely Awesome Teaching that's to be expected!" Jiraiya gloated, getting up. "But yeah, the original had an important mission for the village. Waited long as he could, but eventually he had to go and left me behind."

"What kind of mission?"

"We finally got a led on Akatsuki's leadership, so he went to look into it." The Kage Bunshin answered, before tossing the scroll he had been toying with at Naruto. "But that's not important. What is important, at least for you, is what's in that scroll."

"What is this?" Naruto asked, catching the scroll and giving it a thoughtful look. "Something pervy?"

"Sadly, no." Jiraiya said. "Now to quote the original me: 'Naruto, I'm going out of the village for a while and I don't know how long I'll be gone. The thing is, I can't just leave you entirely to your own devices, not with Akatsuki making aggressive moves.'"

"Uh huh," Naruto managed, giving him a shrewd look. "So you want me to learn another of the jutsu in this scroll?"

"Sort of. It's actually part letter and part summoning scroll." The Kage Bunshin explained. "Before he left, The Magnificent Jiraiya nicked a scroll from the private library of the Hokage. I won't ruin the surprise, but it's one that you should be very familiar with."

"Ooook," Naruto said, studying the scroll he was holding, trying to think of what scroll from the private libarary of the Hokage he would be familiar with.

"Anyway, the letter has specific instructions on what he wants you to learn, but if you decided to learn more after that, then do so." The Kage Bunshin said, and noticing the surprise on the blondes face shrugged. "Admittedly, you have a spotty track record when it comes to common sense decisions, but you've got a pretty good sense when it comes to what you need to learn."

"Hehe, thanks." Naruto returned, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Meh, just being honest." The Kage Bunshin said sadly, before shaking it off. "Anyway, read the whole letter first before you go summoning the scroll."

"Right." Naruto said, his grin slipping as something started gnawing at the edge of his mind. He could not put it in words, but he had the strange sensation that there was something serious going on that he wasn't aware of. "You better come back."

"Oho? And who are you to be ordering the great Jiraiya, the Epitome of Manliness, the Legendary Toad Sennin, and Sage of Mount Mount Myōboku?"

"I'm going to be Hokage," Naruto said seriously even as he gave wide, confident smile. "And I'm going to find it."

"Find what?" Jiraiya asked, clearly bemused.

"The answer you told me about." Naruto answered firmly. "A way to end the cycle, to find a way for people to understand each other."

"Naruto..." Jiraiya whispered in surprise, and then abruptly turned away. "I'm sorry."

Before Naruto could ask what exactly that meant, the Kage Bunshin disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

**AN:**

So, here's that update I promised last month in the last chapter of Shinobi Wars. I had it mostly written, it just needed some editing (and it probably still does, I'm betting some of my formatting gets garbled), but about the same time I finished it I was laid off. So for the last month I've been looking for a job and trying to keep all my bills paid off... whee!

Side note, I edited some of the earlier chapters, not all but some. I'll edit some more later when I can.

Anyway, I'll try to update 'CoD' next, but until I find new employment I can't promise you it'll happen.

Geor-sama


End file.
